Uchiha of Remnant
by Baconaddict
Summary: Sasuke was used to having obstacles in his path, but trying to find a way home after becoming stranded in the middle of another world was a bit much even by his standards. Similar to everything in his life, his situation is not as simple as it first appears.
1. Mercy of the Fool

Author's Note: So after reading fanfics for so many years I have finally summoned the will to get off my ass to write something myself. I've had plenty of ideas over the years, but this is probably the story that I have stayed interested in creating without losing interest at some point and a general idea of where it is going to go from the beginning all the way to the very end. It should be noted that a 'general idea' of how the story is going to go does not mean I have all the fine details down. For example, at the time I am writing this I have no idea what the specific history and abilities of the Relics are, and so when I get to such a point where they become relevant I am probably going to have to put this story in hold. That being said I probably have enough to go on to comfortably get through volume 2 and possibly 3.

I'll be putting in author's notes in other chapters when I feel the need to, but I suppose I should put some general information here at the very start.

First, if for some reason you did not see it this is a Naruto and RWBY crossover fic featuring Sasuke Uchiha as the primary protagonist. I am well aware I will be on the receiving end of Naruto Uzumaki fans and Sasuke haters, trolls, etc. If I receive enough flames and criticisms of this story from said people I will of course be willing to take my entire story down, apologize on my hands and knees for my blasphemy, and throw all of my hard work away because everyone knows the opinions of people who hate my story are far more important than those who enjoy it. What makes these negative opinions even more relevant is the fact that all of them will come from people whom I have never met personally and likely never will. The previous two sentences were laced with sarcasm in case any of you couldn't tell. Anyone who doesn't like my story is not being forced to read it with a knife at your throat. If you prefer Naruto as a protagonist you have no reason to complain: literally 2/3 of the Naruto X RWBY crossover fics feature him. If you are truly pissed off enough to go out of your way to flame a story or personally attack an author or audience for liking a fictional character you do not care for; I would like to point out that if you were put in a time machine, went back to 1938 Germany and in your comment you replaced the word 'Sasuke' with 'Jew', you would likely be instantly recruited to join the Nazis. Something to think about.

Second, this is my first story so if there are any large or small issues you see grammatically or in the way the story is written feel free to offer constructive criticism. I will of course try to improve my writing as I continue, and it will be much easier if I have an "outside looking in" perspective to refer to. I should note here that before anyone criticizes any details in continuity or canon events, concepts, etc., I have taken the liberty of changing some of the fundamental characteristics of both the Naruto and RWBY series to make this story work. So if you see something that works differently or has a different origin story than it does in canon, I most likely changed it myself. One of my pet peeves when it comes to stories in general are plot devices or events that make no sense even within the realm of their respective fiction, so I will try to make an obvious effort to keep things consistent and believable.

Third, before anyone asks this will be a Sasuke harem. For all of you who think he is not emotionally ready or compatible to creating and maintaining one I have one thing to say: you are absolutely right. This is going to be a LONG way off, Sasuke needs a **shitload** of character development and social interaction (let's not kid ourselves, most of the latter is going to be forced) before he can even think about seriously dating a girl, much less several. I have also already chosen the pairings, so anyone offering suggestions regarding them is wasting their time.

Well that should be all for now, so read on and I hope you enjoy. I know the title is kind of uncreative but in my defense, it will be relevant to the story and coming up with names in general is not my strong suite.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or RWBY and am making no profit from either of these franchises whatsoever.

"Normal talking"

' _Thoughts'_

* * *

 **Uchiha of Remnant**

Chapter 1: Mercy of the Fool

When Sasuke first gathered Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo all of them knew well before Sasuke told them that the reason he had gathered all of them together as a team was to find and kill Itachi, no matter the obstacles they may face. He had had this goal for about eight years now and anyone who knew even the slightest bit about his past knew why he wanted Itachi dead; preferably in the most painful way he could accomplish. Sasuke had abandoned his village, knocked out two of his squad mates, and left the village his family had helped forge from the ashes of the Warring States to obtain the power needed to bring down the Uchiha Clan's second most powerful criminal and traitor of all time. Sasuke wanted revenge; plain and simple. And he wanted it **now.**

With such a clear goal it seemed a given that Hebi would immediately try to find Itachi's trail and hunt him down without delay. Everyone who knew of his triumph over Orochimaru as well as his fellow Hebi members expected as much. Unfortunately for anyone of gambling habit who had bet money on Sasuke's first move after forming Team Hebi, finding Itachi was not the first thing on his to-do-list. If Sasuke were being honest he would be the first to admit that the task he and his newly formed Team Hebi were doing was disgustingly close to something Naruto would do, so he wasn't too surprised when his new teammates looked at him as though he had been abducted and replaced by aliens who for God knows what reason gave enough of a shit to care about diverting Hebi from their expected goal.

It was a spur of the moment decision he had made two days before in the Northern Hideout not two minutes after formally gathering his new teammates. Sasuke had defeated dozens of unfortunate prisoners who had been forcibly infused with Jugo's Cursed Seal Transformation alongside Suigetsu when they arrived at the hideout and walked past them on their way out. It was upon seeing the defeated prisoners that Sasuke remembered that the guards Orochimaru had stationed there had abandoned their posts upon hearing of the Legendary Sannin's defeat without releasing any of the prisoners before leaving. The Northern Hideout was specially designed to prevent escapes by anyone who had not mastered the tree-walking ability even without any guards; but inside the walls inmates had relatively free movement during the day with free access to water and food, only being forced back into individual or group cells at night. It was due to this supply of food and water that none of the prisoners were dying or already dead from starvation or thirst when Sasuke arrived, though even with rationing there was likely not enough food to last them another week or so if he hadn't shown up. It was after that thought that Sasuke recalled that there were other hideouts Orochimaru had built that housed prisoners and human experiments of various kinds. Some of them in which prisoners had no access to food unless it was provided to them by the guards; guards that had probably left without freeing their captives just like the ones at the Northern Hideout had.

' _They are all going to die.'_ The thought rang in Sasuke's head with far more clarity than the more mundane thoughts that had been passing through his mind only moments before. If Sasuke were a more spiritual person, he would have instantly recognized it as his far-too-often ignored conscience. _'They will run out of food and starve to death.'_ Sasuke was not sure why this statement made him feel guilt and shame, he was not the one who had imprisoned them. He had been shown firsthand many of Orochimaru's experiments, almost all of which would have made most people empty their stomach at the first glance and he had certainly been revolted by the audacious disregard for morality. He had felt regret that he could not yet defeat the monster that like Itachi, had no problems causing untold suffering for no other reason than selfish gain or some "greater good" bullshit. Regret, but not guilt.

' _The whole reason I left Konoha was to kill Itachi, there isn't any time to be making detours. Especially when the Akatsuki get wind of my new freedom'._ There was no doubt that the Akatsuki would take measures of some kind to prevent him from killing one of their own. As powerful as all their members were they were few in number. This meant that any loss the Akatsuki suffered to their ranks would be a hard blow to their overall power and could not be easily replaced. Itachi had told him that night to come face him when he was stronger, but that didn't mean he would offer himself to Sasuke on a silver platter. There was also no guarantee the leader of the Akatsuki, Pain, would not either order Itachi to avoid battling him or to send several members to ambush him and eliminate the threat he posed to one of his most prized subordinates. _'I need to start tracking Itachi down now, before he starts covering his tracks and before the Akatsuki can start tracking mine.'_ It had occurred to Sasuke that the Akatsuki didn't even need to meet him in battle to hinder his hunt. If they found his location or general area they could simply offer an anonymous tip to any local shinobi regarding his whereabouts. While he was not officially a missing-nin he was still listed in most Bingo Books as a wanted one, and shinobi from any village who captured him would be rewarded a modest bounty if they returned him to Konoha alive. While he was confident he could handle just about any threat such distractions would certainly delay his movements, and any shinobi village would have a more personal reason to capture him if he defeated or killed their operatives.

A slight decrease in the speed of his walk was the only manifestation of Sasuke's inner conflict. A detail so minute that only the sensitive giant Jugo picked up the shift. As usual, Sasuke's face betrayed none of his thoughts. The dispassionate mask a fruit of years of hard effort that was first planted in his humble academy days when his class first began training to hide their thoughts and body language from any potential enemies and solidified still further after the massacre when all too often he didn't have to pretend not to care about people whose problems seemed quite small compared to his own.

' _Starving to death seems like a bigger problem than anything you have right now'_ The voice of his somehow morally superior conscience was not quieting down in the least and if anything was growing louder. _'Evil triumphs when good men fail to act; or did you see fit to forget that lesson Father taught you when his body was burned?'_ Fugaku Uchiha was not a man of many words, but when he did speak it was always important. The will to take action upon seeing an injustice instead of taking the easy way out and letting "someone else" take care of it was the first lesson his father had seen fit to teach him when he first showed interest in being a member of the Uchiha Police Force at the tender age of six.

Even with a microscope, it still would have been impossible to find a single muscle in the Uchiha's face that had twitched the tiniest distance since his inner turmoil had started. His footsteps slowed down still further though; enough that Suigetsu and Karin turned their eyes to try and figure out why they were suddenly shortening the distance to their leader.

' _I wonder if during that night before you arrived someone had been walking past the Uchiha Compound, noticed it was a bit too quiet, but was too busy with a bigger problem to bother investigating why an entire clan compound was devoid of any sounds of life well before most people went to bed.'_ Sasuke's footsteps did not slow any further, but his jaw clenched shut like a bear trap. _'What would you have given for someone, anyone, to_ _help_ _your clan when they were being slaughtered? What would you have given for even one or two other lives to be spared?'_

Sasuke stopped dead in his tracks.

Anything. He would have given anything in this world to have even a pitiful handful of his clan other than himself survive that night. It did not lead him to a particularly convenient course of action in the present, but the right choice was called the straight and narrow for a reason.

* * *

Back in the present Sasuke couldn't help but feel that maybe he had made a mistake deciding to distract himself with what was in practical terms a potentially costly detour. He had led his team to a small island a half mile off the North coast of the Land of Sound which housed the largest prisoner population of all Orochimaru's bases and were currently Water Walking the remaining few hundred feet. Dealing with the constant questioning of his motives from Suigetsu and Karin on the day and a half journey there was as annoying as he would have expected. Both saw fit to ask him "Why do you care enough about these people to save them?" in ever more elaborate variations every hour or two. Though thankfully the animosity they had towards each other was enough that whenever one of them popped said question the other would without fail interject that Sasuke knew what he was doing and should shut their mouth because nobody wanted to hear them talk. Jugo thankfully seemed immune from being dragged into this infinite loop of an argument that Karin and Suigetsu seemed to be stuck in.

To make matters worse a rather severe thunderstorm had hit them a few miles before they reached the beach and even though Sasuke had learned a rather handy trick of using a slight variation of the Water Walking ability to repel the rain from his skin it did nothing to prevent his clothes from soaking up what felt like ten pounds of rainwater. One of their number was of the opposite opinion; Sasuke would not be that surprised if Suigetsu was fighting down the urge to dive beneath the waves and breach the surface like an absurd permutation of a dolphin to celebrate his four days and counting of freedom from his water tank enclosure. Even if Suigetsu wasn't performing synchronized swimming maneuvers the rain did put him in a very good mood. And unfortunately for Sasuke and Karin the better Suigetsu felt the more he talked. They had only been in the rain for a few minutes but even that short time was enough for the new wielder of Kubikiribocho to make a notable dent in Sasuke's patience. If any one of them had started the infamous "Are we there yet?" line of questioning he would have probably shoved a Chidori-charged Kusanagi up their ass.

Fortunately for all of them they had finally arrived at their destination, and after opening the double doors at the entrance that were twenty feet wide for some reason three of them had wrung and shook the water out of their hair and clothing. Sasuke then started leading them down toward the basement levels where the prison cells were. The guards had indeed left if the lack of anyone to greet their arrival meant anything, so the inmates were no doubt still here.

"Jeez, and here I thought the place that held me was creepy." Suigetsu commented.

The Snake Sannin's favorite method of hiding his bases was burying them underground, and the Coastal Base was no exception. A low but audible rumbling from the ceaseless pounding of the surf outside permeated every inch of the base in a foreboding manner that seemed to come from all directions that tickled the fight or flight response of anyone who ventured inside. A light pink and black-speckled granite were the predominate rock in the area and it surrounded every room and hallway that out of the corner of one's eye that looking disturbingly like a solidified form of flesh that had been stripped of its skin. Like most of Orochimaru's bases there was not much priority given to putting enough lighting in the place to meet most people's standard; the only lights being small candles placed every few dozen yards or so, though with the guards leaving there had been no one to replace any that got too low. The result was a gentle orange glow alongside the wall that was patchy in appearance due to the several that had died out. A single flight of stairs traveled a little over a hundred feet down from the surface with the irregular candlelight on the light pink walls.

' _Looks almost like a blood trail,'_ Suigetsu mused _'and the single-file width of the damn stairs is making this whole trek way more claustrophobic than it needs to be.'_

"Have you met Orochimaru?" Karin retorted in response to Suigetsu's comment, stunned as to why her teammate seemed surprised in the Sannin's choice of décor.

"I suppose I shouldn't be," Suigetsu conceded, "but I still think he should have put in a bit more light. The floor is slippery enough from all the sea spray that finds its way down here. Is enough visibility to see where I'm placing my feet too much to ask for?"

Jugo was inclined to agree, he had almost slipped several steps back on a small puddle on one of the stairs. Being both the physically largest of their group and bringing up the rear of their party, any loss of footing on his part on the downward incline would turn all four of them into a set of human dominoes.

"It doesn't matter, we won't be here for long." Sasuke interjected.

There was an unnatural quiet ahead of them. Though the low hum of the waves above could still be heard Sasuke had been able to make out some broken sounds ahead of them about halfway down the stairway that had mysteriously ceased.

Hebi reached the bottom of the stairs and after releasing several locks opened the extremely heavy-set door to the large room of cells behind it. It was not as faint as the hallway the had emerged from but still depressingly dark.

' _I don't remember there being half this many prisoners last time.'_ Sasuke thought. _'I guess the experiment was enough of a success to warrant further testing. Of course, the kidnapping and bodily mutilation of the test subjects wasn't something Orochimaru was concerned with.'_

Staring at their group were over two hundred prisoners of various ages in four separate group cells who had been unfortunate enough to be experimental test subjects. They were all huddled together in various small groups; mostly near the rear of their cells in a subconscious attempt to put some distance between them and any guard that happened by. There were even several groups of families with the larger adults sitting in front of the smaller children in a vain attempt to protect them from the attention of the individuals they heard approach not a minute earlier. None of them were in a good state; there was not a shred of clothing or an inch of skin seen that was not infested with grime and damp earth. It was clear Sasuke's assumption of the inmates not being fed was correct; every one of them was noticeably thin. A handful of them seemed to be sickly, covered in cold sweat and having a looser grip on consciousness than their peers. Sasuke supposed that the lack of food and nutrients had weakened several of their immune systems enough to trigger infections that otherwise would have been mild. One thing all the prisoners had in common, or didn't depending on one's perspective, was the addition of one or more animal limbs or organs. Gills, various tails, antlers, paws, hooves, horns, a few wings, and everything in between was represented in at least one individual; though ears seemed to be a particularly common trait.

"Sasuke, are these people more copies Orochimaru made of my Sage power?" Jugo inquired referring to the test subjects of the northern hideout that had been infused with his Cursed Seal.

"Partially," Sasuke responded "both yourself and the vast majority of those who possess Cursed Seals exhibit both physical and mental instability, which results in problems with short and long-term physical health as well as extreme psychological stress and mental breakdown. Orochimaru wanted to eliminate these drawbacks, so he came up with the idea of infusing humans with various animal genes along with weaker Cursed Seals."

"Wait a second, how would putting animal DNA in people help them handle Jugo's power?" Karin asked.

"Jugo's power is a natural form of Sage Mode which involved absorbing Nature Energy around the user" the Uchiha explained. "All animals do this subconsciously to some degree depending on where they are and their awareness of their surroundings. Haven't any of you ever wondered why every Sage Mode user in recorded history was taught by an animal Summons of some kind? It's because animals on average have a far higher sensitivity to their environment than humans do and makes learning and wielding Sage Mode much easier for them."

"It makes a lot of sense now that you bring it up, it explains why I'm able to talk to birds and have them trust me so easily" Jugo concluded.

Amongst the prisoners small noises of chatter started after the identity of one of their visitors was revealed.

"Sasuke? As in Sasuke Uchiha?"

"What is someone that high ranking doing down here?"

None of the prisoners had the nerve to directly ask the Uchiha the nature or reason of his visit despite being the obvious question on everyone's mind. All the imprisoned souls had long ago learned by hard experience or by observing the punishments of their looser tongued members that they had no right to ask anyone on the other side of the bars for anything.

Sasuke was not willing to take the time to explain himself when he had already lost a lot of time coming to free the people before him. If that bottom feeder crime boss Tenzen Daikoku had heard of his triumph over his former teacher all the way in the Land of Waves there was no way in hell the Akatsuki had not heard of Orochimaru's death at his hands by now.

The eyes of the prisoners in the room all drew toward the Uchiha as he approached the nearest cell, then widened in fear when he wordlessly drew his Kusanagi. One of the larger inmates, a youth a bit older than Sasuke with a crown of antlers on his head, rose to challenge the aggressive move even if everyone knew it was a waste of time. Sasuke poured a small amount of chakra into the blade, activating his weakest version of the Chidori Katana to produce a blue-white glow on the blade's surface accompanied by small chirping bolts of lightning. Just enough power to cut through the chakra reinforced bars of the cell.

Two horizontal cuts too fast for anyone who wasn't a shinobi to see were enough to remove a five-foot-wide section of the enclosure. The people in the cell spared a glance at the bars that no longer imprisoned them before returning their gaze to the Uchiha.

"Orochimaru is dead" Sasuke informed them, their faces morphing into disbelief. "You're all free."

Those six spoken words were ambrosia to the ears of all who listened. Eyes widened in disbelief, smiles began to form, and deep intakes of breath were taken to heave a sigh of relief.

Sasuke wasted no time in moving to the next cell, with Jugo and Suigetsu moving to break open the other two holding cells behind him.

"I know all of you are starving, but there should be some food leftover in the kitchen or the storage area in the mess hall to start fixing that. It's up the stairs and on the first right turn. The guards all abandoned this base days ago, so you don't have to worry about being caught."

The victims of Orochimaru's scientific minded curiosity wasted no time in getting to their feet and putting as much distance between them and the cells that had almost become their tombs as possible. Sasuke merely waited for the crowd to pass through the cramped passageway along with the rest of Hebi, feeling on no mood to elbow his way through the mass of people that were slowed down by the bottleneck in front of the single-file stairway to the top. Karin actually had to do a bit of crowd control at the door to prevent some of the smaller individuals from being shoved into the wall or pushed to the ground by the haste of those behind them.

Sasuke decided to wait for the crowd to fully disperse before heading up the stairs, a decision his teammates copied. It would still take a few minutes for everyone to get through the narrow passage, and all four members of Hebi were receiving numerous 'thank you' and 'bless you for your help' from various ex-prisoners.

"I cannot tell you how grateful we all are for your actions, young man." An older male with what appeared to be Leopard ears was the latest person to come to the young Uchiha to thank him for his aid.

"I must admit I am surprised you of all people not only killed Orochimaru but also saw fit to aid in the escape of strangers. I am aware you joined the Snake on your own free will, so I thought you were either indifferent to the suffering that monster caused or were an active and willing participant."

At least the man was willing to do more than just blindly accept the help of someone who had done nothing to aid their plight in over two years.

"I joined Orochimaru to gain power to achieve my goal in the fastest way possible, **not** fulfill some twisted desire to enjoy the suffering of others" Sasuke shot back.

While he was certainly the type of indifferent asshole who would normally be hard-pressed to help others solve their problems, inflicting pain on people who did not deserve such treatment was something Sasuke was never going to willingly do. Itachi had done more than enough of that to him eight years ago. Turning around and inflicting that kind of torture on an innocent even to achieve some greater goal would be a sin Sasuke would never be able to forgive himself for. The no-killing rule he had set for all members of Hebi was there for a reason even if it made situations more difficult than they otherwise would be.

"My apologies, I did not mean for my assumptions to offend you" the man negotiated, trying to placate the Uchiha.

"Hey Kohta," a young woman that looked to be in her mid-twenties with what appeared to be a red monkey tail and a set of much larger than average canine teeth interrupted, "you coming up?"

The now named Kohta excused himself from Sasuke's presence and followed the rest of the crowd up the stairs. The rest of Hebi followed, Karin in particular grateful to leave the room that smelled far too strongly of body odor and excrement for her liking.

The sounds of more than a hundred mouths working overtime to ingest as much food as their shrunken stomachs could handle could be heard well outside the bases' mess hall and kitchen where bread, clean water, and dried meat were being divided up and passed around. Even these relatively tasteless rations may as well have been worth their weight in gold for the crowd that was now practically inhaling the sustenance as fast as they could, with several of the older members going around and making sure none of the younger ones ate too much for their gut to keep down. It was a task Jugo decided to aid, quickly intercepting a young child around eight years old from devouring a rather large slice of what appeared to be the remains of a birthday cake he had found.

"Everyone," Sasuke announced, a bit taken aback by how all present in the room stopped talking and chewing immediately after they heard his voice. "none of you will be able to handle a large meal right now, so don't spend too much time eating. Just take a quick snack and start gathering up whatever food, clothing, or whatever else you can find. Take only what you can carry, it's a three day walk to the nearest village for a healthy traveler and your group will be lucky to make it in a week."

The malnourished group gave affirmative nods or grunts in understanding with most of them having a bolus in their mouth preventing them from answering his assertion verbally. They resumed their impromptu meal, though several of the adults started moving around gathering baskets and bags to carry what would likely be an impressive quantity of food and any other useful items they would be able to find.

* * *

Twenty minutes later everyone in the base was gathered at the front chamber ready to finally leave the Hideout that would be the subject of many of their nightmares for years to come. Though the pace of the sizeable group would still be painfully slow, Jugo had been sufficiently moved by their plight to use his curse mark to revitalize the bodies and the chakra of some of the individuals who were particularly hard hit from their starvation. The slowest moving member of their group would be setting the pace, so Jugo hoped that his assistance would shave a bit of time off their journey. Makeshift stretchers and large sacks were filled with bread, rice, various foodstuffs, clothing, rope, shinobi wire, toiletries, and a small assortment of shinobi shuriken, kunai, and even a handful of katanas and axes.

"I believe we are ready to finally leave this place." The now named Kohta stated. The Leopard-eared man was now clearly identifiable as the leader of the crowd of people waiting to exit. Sasuke hadn't noticed before in the basement but he was the one all the others deferred authority and judgement to when they were organizing their efforts to gather supplies.

"About time" Suigetsu mumbled under his breath from his position at Sasuke's side, so quietly that even Sasuke's chakra enhanced hearing had difficulty picking it up.

Thankfully the hearing enhancement that came with being infused with various animal DNA did not seem to be sufficient to pick up Suigetsu's barbed comment if the lack of reaction on anyone's face was anything to go by. Still Sasuke agreed with Suigetsu's point, it was time they headed out.

Sasuke and Jugo both pushed the double doors of the entrance open, only to be greeted by the sting of thousands of wind-driven rain drops and the crack of thunder that assaulted the ears of all who heard it.

' _Somehow I completely forgot it was raining outside'_ Sasuke puzzled, quickly focusing the chakra on his skin to repel the water pelting him like a miniature hail of kunai.

The reactions of the animal-themed group behind him were not so casual. Faces in the crowd turned to expressions of exasperation and frustration very quickly.

Kohta cursed loudly, glancing above at the storm clouds that would have been pitch black had it not been for the lightning showing the true shape of the cumulonimbus above them. Turning around he looked in concern at four of their number who were being carried on stretchers they had made. The individuals in question were the ones that had started to become ill and sickly during the last few days and were unable to walk with the group on their own. They had all been among those infused by some of their larger savior's chakra and were now expected to make a full recovery. That being said it was decided that it would be better to have them carried while they moved until their sickness started to leave in earnest.

Normally a storm like this would have only slowed them down or would have forced them to make a less than effective but better than nothing impromptu shelter. As it was the four people in question would be at serious risk of catching pneumonia or flu in their current condition. And with no real medications or treatment available for them death was a very real possibility. Kohta quickly placed his hand on the young Uchiha's shoulder to get his attention and told him as much.

"We'll have to wait here until it passes, I will not risk their lives to save our group a day of travel time" Kohta asserted, his tone leaving no room for compromise.

Sasuke stole a look with his Sharingan toward the edge of the horizon, his clan's bloodline piercing through the darkness with ease even from miles away. The storm was traveling head-on toward them but at a frustratingly slow pace.

' _I'm not waiting for this storm to pass, it goes clear over the horizon and at the rate it's traveling it will take several hours to clear at the very least.'_ Sasuke and his team were already spending a lot of time pulling this animal-themed group out of the hole Orochimaru had dug them in. And he would be damned if Itachi's life was lengthened by a fraction of a second because he was stuck for a few hours waiting for a storm to pass.

Fortunately, he wouldn't have to. A small smirk made its way to his face as he slowly stepped out through the doors to the rain-soaked rocks outside the Hideout. He wasn't going to force the group to go through the storm, he was going to force the storm to **shatter.**

The remaining members of Hebi as well as the crowd behind them could only stare in bewilderment as Sasuke Uchiha walked ever further into the pouring rain. He stopped about ten paces out, solidly planting his feet. The hundreds of faces watching him sharing looks of puzzlement, having no knowledge of his purpose.

They watched as Sasuke at first brought into being in his left palm a very small and faint mass of chirping lightning chakra, and began to raise his hand.

His arm had barely reached the level of his navel before the entire sky above them was transformed. There had been several bolts of lightning seen somewhere above them every second or so, but now the entire face of the storm above them was lit by a web of moving and shifting discharges of lightning. Hundreds of arms and hands were raised to protect and shield the eyes of their owners from the brilliant light that now blanketed the area in an intensity that surpassed that of the Sun.

Sasuke's hand was raised still further to his eye level, and the heavens obeyed his wordless bidding. The hundreds of bolts becoming thousands as the lightning spread and rippled further from their position, awakening the raw power of the storm in an ever-larger area.

It was then that the thunder produced by the first deluge of bolts reached those witnessing it below. It was not just a noise that temporarily deafened those who heard it, the thunder of so many electric discharges more akin to shockwaves. The waves of power were felt in the very flesh and bones of those watching it, the travelling pressure wave colliding with everything and everyone in its path with enough tangible force that all present apart from the shinobi were forced to their knees to avoid being pushed over.

The Uchiha's arm was raised straight up. The web of white ribbons and streaks that had spread from horizon to horizon now stopped their outward movement.

The mass of diffused power then began to gravitate back inwards, coalescing itself towards the Uchiha that had mastered it. The shapeless mass then started to churn, becoming alive with movement and activity. In a few seconds it transformed from a mass of jumping and crackling lightning into a sight none who witnessed it would ever forget.

The apparition of lightning that was formed could not be described as a monster, it was a **Titan**. The form of a colossal dragon appeared in the sky, writhing and twisting in a serpentine manner. The dragon's body was composed of neither flesh nor chakra but by the pure and focused power of nature that lit up the earth below so completely it forced all shadows under it to shrink, and then dispel completely.

The beast opened its mouth and released an explosion of sound that travelled through every medium it encountered without effort. It did not roar by bellowing vocal cords of living tissue but by heating the air in the cavity of its mouth to temperatures over twice as high as the surface of the Sun. The energy released was so great the shockwave of sound was visible to the naked eye as it traveled through the rain and air before it impacted the ground so forcefully a blind and deaf man would have mistaken it for a small earthquake.

The dragon's eyes glowed an intimidating shade of red that mirrored the hue of the Kekkei Genkai possessed by the youth who had created it. The dragon turned its head down and gazed upon the Uchiha, waiting for his command.

Sasuke clenched his hand into a half-fist, then rotated his wrist. The living mass of lightning obeyed the command without pause, the dragon's body twisting around to form a rotating helix across the sky. A few moments later and the dragon started to travel around itself at speeds no one without a Sharingan had a hope of seeing. The clouds, rain, and air within and around the vortex of lightning whipping around with the dragon in a whirlpooling orgy of movement.

Sasuke then gently threw his hand forward.

In a final mighty roar, the dragon launched itself in the direction of Sasuke's thrust. Then, it **exploded**. The tail and lower body of the beast were still directly above the hideout, but the force of the lightning releasing all its energy simultaneously formed a concussion of power that forced the storm clouds around and above it to flee and evaporate in seconds. The rays of the Sun were finally able to touch the ground below the titanic hole formed in the storm clouds that continued to grow until it reached a size of almost eight miles in diameter. The upper body and head of the dragon were turned into a spear of light that travelled straight into the oncoming thunderclouds, unzipping them and revealing the clear and bright light of day above.

Ten seconds had passed since Sasuke had first started raising his hand in the dark shadow of the storm above him, and he now lowered his hand to a clear sky. The storm was dead.

Hundreds of jaws were now hanging down to reveal mouths open in awe and disbelief as to what they had just witnessed. All who were present knew that shinobi were capable of superhuman feats compared to ordinary civilians. But this, this was something on a completely different level. Such power seemed almost… Could possibly even be…

The last of the rain fell to the earth as the thoughts of those who witnessed the spectacle froze upon seeing the body of the Uchiha turn to face them.

"There is no reason to wait here. We are all leaving this place now."

The words were spoken nonchalantly, even softly. Yet every soul present heard every syllable of it with perfect clarity. It was not a demand from a superior party to an inferior one, nor was it a command from a more powerful being to a weaker one. It was spoken as a statement of iron fact and solid reality.

Leaving this island in this moment was as pre-ordained as the Sun rising every morning. It was **destiny**.

Without a word they slowly began to move forward to follow in the Uchiha's footsteps out of the hideout. There was still a half mile of ocean to cross before they reached land, but there was no hesitation to approach the breaking waves. None of the animal-themed crowd knew how they would cross, but not one of them doubted they would all be making the journey to the freedom of the mainland immediately.

They were proven right as Sasuke gave a small nod toward Suigetsu that prompted the aquaphilic teen to wade waist-deep into the ocean before launching into the hand seals for the Water Wall jutsu. The white-haired teen's palms slammed into the seawater and thrust the mass of water forward and up to lay bare a section of seafloor. Suigetsu activated his clan's Hydrification technique to extend the length of his arms to maintain physical contact with the surrounding Water Wall he created. Eventually a section of ocean roughly one hundred feet long and thirty feet wide was removed from the seabed it covered.

"Alright, we're ready to go! Just stay within the pocket of empty ocean around me and we'll be at the other side before you know it" the ex-Kirigakure shinobi stated.

The mass of people slowly began to trek down and fill the empty space, some of the younger and more curious ones taking a few moments to walk up to and touch several starfish, shellfish, and other shallow-water ocean life they had never had the opportunity to see before. When the entire group was present Suigetsu began to slowly walk forward, forcing the void in the ocean to follow. He set a slow pace to account for the weaker members and those carrying large amounts of supplies to keep up.

After a twenty-minute trek the last pair of feet treaded upon the sands of the far beach, the sea rezipping behind them as though they had never crossed. The faces in the crowd showed a collective sense of relief and optimism, chattering amongst themselves excitedly about their escape from certain death and the journey back to their respective villages and towns of origin for a small number of them.

Not all of those present, though, had such positive thoughts. It had not passed Kohta's attention that Sasuke's companions, particularly Suigetsu and Karin if he was recalling their names correctly, were giving not-so-subtle glances to their leader. Their body language reeked of impatience if the addition of tapping index fingers and the crossing of their arms were anything to go by.

"I take it your group will not be traveling with us" Kohta stated bluntly, causing several of his peers to turn in their direction and take heed of the words being said.

"No, we will not" Sasuke confirmed, destroying any hope of a powerful escort many were expecting. There was no time to be babysitting these people for who knows how long until they got their footing. The mass of people ceased their conversations, all of them having heard the declaration.

"You have all been freed from your prison and your lives have been spared. What you do now is up to you. My team and I have another goal to accomplish and must take our leave."

Dozens of nervous voices began to voice their fears, "What kind of protection from bandits are a handful of kunai wielded by novices going to give!?"

"What's to stop another group of shinobi running low on supplies from stealing what little we have?"

"How are we going to defend ourselves from people who think of us as monsters!?"

That last question immediately drew everyone's attention and had them exchanging looks of apprehension. Not many had thought of it when they were in what was essentially a biological experiment, but the fear was now brought to the front of their minds – what if they weren't accepted?

The terms 'filthy animals', 'mindless beasts', and the like had been tossed to them in no small quantity by Orochimaru's guards. Now that they knew they had a chance to see their friends and family again, not much consideration as to whether their previous bonds would weather their sudden change in outward appearance. But now the question arose - even if their closest kin were able to see past the physical changes, would hundreds and possibly thousands of strangers be as understanding?

"Do not speak of such things!" an older member admonished. "We are still human, and we will remind anyone who doubts it that our appearance does not define who we are."

"Don't delude yourselves."

All heads turned toward the Kubikiribocho's wielder who had interrupted them. The teen was wearing an annoyed and serious expression, the folly of their hope too much for him to hold his tongue.

"People don't treat groups who are different from them very well. My home village of Kirigakure made it a national policy to track down and kill anyone with a unique bloodline trait for several years out of fear of them attempting a military coup. And even if they don't ostracize you, what's going to stop someone interested in researching you from sticking you in another cell? Do you seriously believe Orochimaru is the only guy who's going to look at you like a sample of cells on a petri dish?"

The eyes of everyone started to widen, not having considered that they might be put back in chains if the wrong people found them. The mood of the area began to sink like a lead weight, bringing down the earlier optimism.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Suigetsu" the only female of Hebi admitted. "Even if you are accepted at first, if one of you gets angry and looses your temper on someone your entire group will be judged. You will not be looked at or treated as individuals until you have established real trust with those who live alongside you. That is going to take years even in the best-case scenario."

For his part, Sasuke watched the exchange of fearful and apprehensive glances amongst the now-freed people. It wasn't supposed to be this complicated! Go to the hideout, free the prisoners, everyone goes their separate ways. End of story. Instead, the only thing that seemed to be greeting him were more problems. He had handled the storm just fine, but there was no jutsu that was going to help them jump this hurdle.

Some of them could go to their local villages again by themselves, but most did not have a home to return to. To keep as low a profile as he could the Sannin usually took either individuals or isolated groups that were already so remote their disappearance would not raise alarm. He had also made sure that the few he had taken from villages were all surrounded by peers that did not have the financial or social means to mount any serious search. Most of the group in front of him would have to make one of two choices: find a new village for everyone to settle and hope they were taken in with grace or create their own colony from scratch and hope they were not disturbed.

The Uchiha crossed his arms in thought. He could just take his team and leave. They had given these people their freedom, it was up to them to do something about it. The unfortunate problem with this line of thought was the same one that brought him to their aid to begin with - these people did not have freedom. They were no longer restrained by bars, but that did not mean they were not still at the complete mercy of their non-metamorphosed peers. There was no real point in granting them the ability to choose their own destiny if there was only one option available. Suigetsu and Karin brought up valid points, and Jugo reluctantly agreed with them if the bitter looking grimace on his face was anything to go on.

He couldn't let them go without something to better their chances, but an actual escort was out of the question. Naruto probably would have made a few hundred shadow clones if he had been here but Sasuke did not have that option. He could make shadow clones no problem; he had seen Naruto use the technique so often he would have been able to duplicate it even without the Sharingan to help him. However, he was not able to make a clone that would last more than a few days, and the traveling crowd of refugees would likely need several weeks of protection.

Sasuke took a breath in, calming himself. It was tempting to just tear off the band-aid and tell them they were on their own, but he hadn't come all this way to free these people and not give them a chance.

' _Think this through logically. If we can't go with them, the next best thing would be to give them something.'_ But what? His team needed all the assets they could muster if they were to stand a chance of achieving their goal. Any item useful enough to assist these refugees would by default be useful for his team. Giving anything to them that Hebi could not use later could come back to bite them. It would be easier if they had a duplicate of somethi-

' _Oh wait, we do.'_ Or more specifically, he did. The item Sasuke had in mind would need to be wielded by someone with the chakra capacity and control of a powerful Genin or weaker Chunin at the very least. Onyx eyes turned scarlet as Sasuke searched the crowd for anyone with a developed chakra network. A fraction of a second later his gaze had zeroed in on someone who fit the bill. It turned out to be none other than the young antler-crowned man that had stood to defend his brethren in the prison cell before Sasuke had revealed his intentions. The quantity of chakra he possessed was a bit wanting, but as he filled his belly and rebuilt his muscles and body mass it would increase greatly.

' _He has a passable chakra network and is willing to fight and die for his comrades. Perfect.'_

The crowd silenced their fearful muttering as the Uchiha walked into the group toward his target, his eyes flaring red for all to see. For his part the Uchiha's target, though obviously nervous at the attention he was receiving, did not take a step back despite the intimidating Sharingan-enhanced glare being sent is way.

Sasuke stopped when he was arms-length away, eyes taking in the smallest details from the man before him.

"Do you remember when you first saw me back in the prison cell?"

The young man furrowed his eyes, confused at the question, but nodding in response.

"What would you have done if I had attacked you or one of your cellmates?"

The youth's eyes narrowed as he steeled his jaw and his resolve, not willing to sacrifice his honesty to obtain a favorable opinion with the Uchiha.

"I would have tried to kill you."

"Even knowing you would fail?"

"Whether I could beat you or not was never important!" The deer-themed youth exclaimed angrily. "I am the strongest among this entire group, so it falls to me to be the first one to protect them. And if their defense comes at the price of taking the lives of those who threaten us or by giving up my own, I will do it!"

Sasuke did not immediately reply, only staring in an appraising manner before turning the corners of his mouth into a small smirk.

"What is your name?"

"Takashi Hirano" the now named youth stated, a small gulp betraying his tension.

"Hold out your dominant hand."

* * *

' _At least there is only one more base with a prison to check on. I can't afford to waste any more time playing rescue. Since when have I been such a bleeding-heart?'_ The question was only answered by the soft chirping of crickets and hum of nocturnal insects as Sasuke contemplated the actions he had taken earlier that day. The rest of his team were fast asleep, recovering from their travel that had been hastened to compensate for their detour while Sasuke took the last watch of the night. They would have to keep up the double-time pace for at least two more days to make up for lost time.

Not that Sasuke regretted his haste. He was _proud_ of it in fact.

Abandoning his peaceful village and replacing it with a series of human experiment-infested holes in the ground had not been a trade-off Sasuke had wanted to make. But he had buried his moral compass and gambled that the long-term payoff would outweigh the immediate cost. Sitting idly by while lives were snuffed out before his eyes by the Sannin and Kabuto had certainly been a hefty moral price.

But now Sasuke was certain that his decision to ignore the advice of his Konoha brethren and train with Orochimaru had been the correct one. For all of Naruto, Tsunade, and Kakashi's lecturing about how he needed to stay in the village, for all the moral elitism that dripped from every word they spoke to him, the fact remained they had absolutely nothing to show for it.

Orochimaru had defected from Konoha over ten years ago and had been performing illegal activities well before that. What had their efforts to capture and kill him amounted to? Nothing. How long had it taken for him to become powerful enough to defeat the Sannin? A little over two years. Sasuke: 1, Konoha: 0. How many bases and human experiments had Konoha cumulatively managed to find and destroy since Orochimaru defected? Out of over a hundred hideouts, they had managed to find and destroy nine. How many bases had Sasuke neutralized or forced Orochimaru's lackeys to abandon? All the rest; in six days no less. Sasuke: 2, Konoha: 0. How many prisoners had Konoha freed from the Sannin in almost 15 years of trying? Twenty. How many had Sasuke freed in six days? Two-hundred and twenty-six. Sasuke: 3, Konoha: 0.

Who had defeated the Snake Sannin and ended his cruelty? Who was looking into the eyes of Orochimaru's victims as they were set free? Who had rolled up their sleeves and done something instead of just talk about it? Who was actually fixing the problem? It wasn't the Hokage, it wasn't Jiraiya, it wasn't Kakashi, it wasn't Naruto, it was Sasuke. The same person who knocked one of his teammates unconscious and shoved a Chidori through the chest cavity of the other. Irony at its best.

' _Shit talkers, all of them.'_

Sasuke's inner monologue was abruptly halted when a subtle sensation made its way to the edges of his senses. It was incredibly fuzzy, not relatable to anything he had experienced before. It didn't stop his neck hair from standing on end. The sensation was…wrong, _unnatural_ somehow.

' _We're being watched'_

He was not the most talented at sensing chakra, certainly nothing compared to Karin. He was nevertheless still capable of detecting weak to moderate signatures up to almost two hundred feet away. Still, even actively trying to sense whatever had set off his more dormant instincts revealed nothing. He wasn't the only one to fail to sense the intruder, however. The nocturnal life continued their quiet routines without pause, unaware of anything out of the ordinary.

' _Sharingan it is then.'_

The surrounding forest flashed from murky darkness to a vibrant array of indescribable detail as his bloodline activated. Every vein of leaf, every movement by the smallest of creatures, every wisp of chakra on the surface of every living thing revealed itself to his dojutsu. And just a bit less than fifty yards away about ten feet up a nearby tree was the culprit responsible for intruding their campsite.

It had the shape of a man's head, but that was where the similarities ended. Solid dark yellow spots with no pupil to be seen took the place of the creature's eyes. The left side of its body was a pasty, chalk-like shade of white in stark contrast to the charcoal black that covered the surface of the right half. Two extensions that reminded Sasuke of a Venus Flytrap extended from the shoulders to surround the head, no doubt ready to snap shut in defense. But the most important detail the Sharingan revealed was the black cloak the creature wore that was embedded with red clouds.

' _Akatsuki'_

Less than a second after Sasuke activated his Sharingan, he had already identified and targeted the no longer hidden Akatsuki member and had crossed the distance with his Chokuto drawn back and ready to swing.

Zetsu barely managed to phase back into the tree he was fused with, the blade slicing clean through the entire trunk without effort where his head had been not a second before. Unfortunately, his luck ended there. The Uchiha twisted his body in midair after the attack to face his foe who was now attempting to shift through what remained of the tree trunk and escape into the ground. Sasuke tensed his leg muscles and shot back the moment his feet touched the earth, activating his Chidori Katana. Sasuke proved to be the faster one as he pierced Zetsu's torso two feet above the ground, the paralyzing lightning chakra preventing any chance of escape.

The Akatsuki member Sasuke had at his mercy was certainly not human, but there was no mistaking the look of absolute terror Zetsu held. It was the same look he had no doubt had the night of the massacre when he had thought his life was about to be taken. The same look that too many of Orochimaru's victims had before their lives were sacrificed in the name of science. Fear. Fear of death.

Sasuke deactivated his Chidori Katana and pulled it out of its victim but brought his left hand around Zetsu's throat in a vice-like grip before plucking him from the remnants of the tree and ground like a weed, lifting him to eye level. Sparks of lightning chakra flew across his arm, ready to discharge with enough force to blow Zetsu's head apart with a single command.

"Based on your appearance, you must be Zetsu, the Akatsuki's spy and messenger. Am I wrong?"

It was a rhetorical question, but the answer came regardless.

"Yes."

"I would like you to send a message to my brother for me." It was not a request, it was a demand. And Sasuke and Zetsu both knew it. Zetsu nodded his head in acknowledgement before Sasuke continued, "Tell him I am ready to face him, and that neither of us will be running away. Not this time."

Sasuke then threw Zetsu to the ground, not caring how he grunted in discomfort. "Now get lost."

The plant-based Akatsuki didn't waste any time in doing just that, phasing into and disappearing into the earth in the time it took to blink. The Uchiha vaguely registered the rest of his team coming up alongside him, having no doubt been disturbed from their sleep from the scuffle.

"What on earth just happened?" Jugo questioned, looking at the fallen tree Sasuke had cut down.

"Nothing important. Just sending a message."

"Well did you have to make so much noise?" Suigetsu asked, "I was having a fantastic dream about slaughtering a bunch of swordsmen that all had anglerfish lures on their foreheads until you ruined it!"

"Shut your mouth, nobody cares about your stupid dreams!" the Uzumaki snapped. She calmed herself down before addressing her leader, "Do you really think it was a good idea to let him go? I got a quick look at him and even if his chakra signature was nothing serious he was still an Akatsuki member based on the robes."

"Zetsu is only a spy and messenger, killing him would be meaningless. We want the big fish."

Suigetsu sighed loudly before replying "Sasuke you really need to rethink this whole 'no killing' thing. I know you want to kill Itachi and leave everyone else out of it but showing mercy to one if his allies just means you might have to face him later."

"It doesn't matter if we have to face him later, he is not a threat to us. For now, he is more useful to us alive until he delivers the message to my brother." Suigetsu clearly still did not agree with his decision but turned away and left it at that. Sasuke continued to stare at the horizon where the Sun's rays were just starting to peek over. _'It doesn't matter if Zetsu lives. Mercy is what separates me from_ _ **him**_ _. I refuse to sink to his level to achieve my goal.'_

* * *

' _Mercy is for fools.'_ The thought crossed Sasuke's mind as he began to consider that perhaps he should have taken Suigetsu's advice more seriously. The reason for his change in opinion being the form of the defeated but not dead form of Deidara in front of him who was preparing his chakra to perform one last attack. _'I should have just killed him when I had the chance. Should have known his last resort would be a suicide bomb.'_

"In death I shall become art itself, no one's seen an explosion like this! One that shall leave behind a scar on the very earth itself! And then, I'll receive more admiration for my art than anyone has ever seen before!"

According to his Sharingan, Deidara did have enough chakra left over to create an explosion that could make do on his boast. He was a bit beat up from the battle, but he still had a decent chunk of chakra left to play with. But how to use it?

The Teleportation Jutsu was out of the question, there were too many trees and flora to travel around to make a single jump that could get him out of what was going to be a colossal blast zone. He could summon Manda and either hide in his mouth or have the serpent reverse summon himself and Sasuke to the Ryuchi Cave to escape. Suigetsu had the vial of his blood and the summoning scroll to bring himself and Manda back to avoid the trouble of journeying on foot from the residence of the snakes to reunite with his team. Unfortunately there was a risk to this plan; summoning Manda would take most of the chakra he had left. This would not leave him in a favorable position if Deidara's partner returned to fight them.

He did have another familiar that did not require such quantities of chakra to summon though. The Uchiha wiped a few drops of blood from one of his wounds onto his fingers before slamming his palm into the ground. From the smoke the form of an enormous hawk stood before him, only taking a moment to assess the situation his summoner was in and lower himself to the ground to allow Sasuke to climb onto his back.

"HAHA! Trying to fly away? Too late for that! This explosion will cover over six miles, you can't run or fly away from this one!"

' _Shit!'_ Deidara's body was now being sucked into the odd black face on his chest. The Sharingan revealed his chakra was being packed, tightened, and coiled like a spring, almost ready to burst. He was going to blow in only a few seconds.

Sasuke no longer had enough chakra to summon Manda, but there was another slightly smaller snake he could summon that was large enough to pull off the same plan with. It would be a tighter fit but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Sasuke threw his palm to the ground again, this time his whole body was raised several stories above the ground as the serpent Aoda was summoned directly beneath him.

"Open your mouth!" Sasuke shouted, the race against time being cut much too close for his taste to bother explaining anything.

Aoda complied instantly, not yet aware of the danger they were in but able to understand Sasuke's desperate tone and know this was no time to ask questions.

The Uchiha wasted no time in jumping into the massive maw, ignoring the saliva that coated every surface inside. He was forced to hastily move to one side as Garuda dove inside with him, desperate to escape the Akatsuki's final move. With both passengers inside, Aoda's mouth clamped shut.

"Reverse Summon!"

It was at that very moment that Deidara reached the end of his fuse. With a brilliant flash, an explosion that would later be proven to be comparable to a Tailed Beast Bomb from the Juubi began to annihilate everything surrounding it. If the blast had reached them a millionth of a second earlier, they would have been caught in the blast before they could escape. A millionth of a second later, and the Reverse Summoning would have gone off without any problems and the shockwave would have hit empty space. As fate would have it, the blast wave reached Aoda at the exact moment the Reverse Summoning was activated.

The result? The explosion hit Aoda; both adding a significant force to the chakra surrounding Aoda to prepare to launch the Space-Time technique and _pushing_ him with enough force to shift him from his targeted path.

Someone throwing a kunai or shuriken would not hit their target if someone or something hit their throwing arm before they released the projectile. Deidara's blast produced similar interference with Aoda's body, forcing his trajectory to take an unplanned detour. Aoda, Sasuke, and Garuda could only tumble helplessly as they were forced to travel through the unexplored void of space-time.

* * *

AN: Alright, hope you all enjoyed the first chapter. Took me a bit longer than I thought to finish but who know? Maybe with enough positive reinforcement (wink-wink) I can get the next chapter cranked out. Like I mentioned earlier this is my first story so constructive criticism is welcome. Flamers, I'm going to tell you in advance to go fuck yourselves.

You should be able to get some general idea about where this is going but don't worry, I have a few curveballs planned.

Read and Review!


	2. Into the Cold

AN: Well I must say I am encouraged by my reviews so far, just enough to get started on the next chapter. Thank you all for the encouragement. Now that I'm the one in the driver's seat I have a much greater appreciation for reviews. Mikejoneswho gets the honor of being my first review ever, so I'll remember that name. Looking back at the chapter right after I posted it I began to get the 'but I could have done this better' syndrome going, so I'm glad most of you think I'm off to a good start.

Also, I forgot to allow guest reviews when I first posted this story. This has since been rectified. My bad.

Just a heads up, the only reason this chapter is out this fast is that I am still in my 'writing a story for the first time' phase with all the energy that comes with it and I have a few days off to use for writing. So sorry to say, but you shouldn't get used to my pace being this fast.

To blankdead, thank you for the concern regarding the flamers. Don't worry though, it will take a bit more than a few jackasses to persuade me to stop. I've had this idea floating for almost two years now, if they want me to quit they had better come up with something damn creative.

With that being said I hope you all enjoy the next installment.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Naruto and am making no profit from either of these franchises whatsoever.

' _thoughts'_

* * *

 **Uchiha of Remnant**

Chapter 2: Into the Cold

No words in the language he knew had a chance in hell of describing what Sasuke was observing as the simple reverse summoning turned into… _something._ It was only due to the activation of his Sharingan and the corresponding increase in both his perception of chakra and the processing speed of his brain that he was able to remotely understand what was happening in flashes of time that were measured in fractions of milliseconds.

His chakra levels that were previously almost depleted completely refilled in less time than it took to blink. Though the aches and pains of his bruises and injuries he had sustained in his battle with Deidara were still present.

A second and a half later, there was a tremendous pull on his chakra. Not his physical body, but the actual life force that he called his own. Every drop in every vein of his Chakra Network was suddenly **lurched** as some unknown force attempted to rip it from his body. The assault disappeared as quickly as it arrived, thankfully failing to dislodge his chakra.

He was also moving incredibly quickly. But not in a normal manner. It was not up, down, or any side direction. Sasuke could not describe _how_ he was moving - the direction was so alien, so outside his normal experience and comprehension he could not put it into words. If he had to make a comparison it would probably be similar to what a creature who had spent its entire life on a flat surface would feel if it were suddenly lifted up into a third dimension that had previously been unknown to it. Sasuke similarly had no way of understanding how he was moving as he tumbled about. It was just… different.

What his senses were perceiving outside the confines of his own body was every bit as confusing.

Aoda and Garuda had become translucent and ghost-like, for lack of a better word. Their flesh, bones, organs, and even their last meals were visible even though Aoda still had them within his maw. The serpent clenched his mouth shut as tight as it could go, not willing to risk losing either of his passengers being lost to the chaos that permeated their very being.

The space between himself and his two summons, as well as the area outside Aoda's body also chose to not appear as anything remotely rational or familiar.

Space was either occupied by clear air or by solid or liquid objects. The simple and unassuming medium in which the interesting things; matter and energy, went about their business. That was how virtually every human in recorded history had perceived it and would have described it. The space Sasuke saw was different - it was **alive**.

It churned, boiled, bubbled, flowed, poured, and twisted before his very eyes as its own independent entity. There was no direction or organization to this movement as shapes, bubbles, and vectors of one, two, and three dimensions folded in on each other and themselves in an infinitely complex and shuffling web.

Despite technically still being inside Aoda's mouth, there was somehow still a presence of light. It seemed to come from everywhere, not having any fixed source but rather emerging and simply _being_ everywhere at once. Colors both vibrant and dull of every shade and hue danced and mixed both from and across the maelstrom in front of him. The shades churned and mixed, evaporated, solidified, and separated across his field of view with blinding speed. They became transparent, opaque, and everything in between as they streaked and painted all three dimensions with their countless hues.

The Sharingan also revealed the presence of chakra. Unlike the chaotic orgy of space and color the chakra Sasuke observed had far more consistent behavior. It appeared as tiny flecks of dust or sand, spontaneously popping into existence in random locations both inside and outside of all three of their respective bodies before vanishing at speeds even his fully developed dojutsu could not follow. He could even see flashes of chakra spontaneously appear within the flesh of his arms and hands in front of him before they vanished. It was this chakra, Sasuke realized, that his body had re-absorbed to cap off his previously depleted reserves. Though how his body could have absorbed all that chakra in a fraction of a second was beyond him – it shouldn't have been possible to take in an amount that great from the environment in an hour, much less a millisecond.

His ears on the other hand were providing a stark contrast to the wild mess his eyes were seeing.

Silence. Complete and utter silence. Not a hum or buzz of even the smallest of background noises could be heard. Even focusing his chakra to enhance his hearing yielded nothing. Not even the beating of his frantically pumping heart could be heard.

Not even ten seconds had passed since they escaped from Deidara's blast, but Sasuke was already fighting the urge to panic. And from how Garuda and Aoda were thrashing and their own hearts were pounding they were not faring any better than he was. Normally Sasuke was calm and collected even in stressful situations, well aware that rational thought and not mindless panic was the best way out of most problems. Still, there was a limit.

Sasuke never imagined he would again find himself saddled with a situation as spontaneous and as terrifying as the Uchiha Massacre, but he had to admit he had found a contender.

Sasuke focused his vision, desperate to find anything that could help get them out of this anomaly. He forced his diaphragm to slow down its labor, trying to bring some measure of control to his actions.

As he poured more chakra into the Sharingan the morphing froth of space around him slowly came into better focus. There was no deceleration of the mess of activity surrounding him, but the random storm of shapes and colors began to coalesce into patterns slightly more familiar.

None of the images lasted for more than a fraction of a second, and all of them were fuzzy or distorted to some degree.

Trees, branches, flowers, grass, rocks, sand, waves, puddles, streams, patches of sky, various fauna, and everything in between could nevertheless be made out. Even the occasional human face or patch of skin could be seen before it flashed out of existence.

The Uchiha began to calm himself. He was still frantic, but his brain began to ignore the adrenaline rush and direct its efforts into understanding what was going on around it and try to come up with an idea to end their unintended journey.

Sasuke only lasted about thirty seconds before his eyes widened in alarm and edged closer to hysteria again as he felt every cell in his body begin to have a dull ache that rapidly progressed to an every-more painful burning sensation. A quick analysis of his chakra levels revealed that it was _higher_ than his maximum level. A glance into the flesh of his left arm showing the motes of chakra were somehow adding themselves to his body and increasing his chakra reserves.

Sasuke would normally be rather excited about obtaining more power. However, the rate at which chakra was being added was far too fast for his body to keep pace with. His cells would start dying en mass in mere minutes if it didn't stop.

He would be dead in less than two minutes if he stayed here, and Aoda and Garuda would likely share his fate if the similar increase in chakra he saw in them was anything to go on.

Blazing red eyes renewed their search for some way to get out of the void. Sasuke desperately pulsed his chakra, activating the most inefficient performance of the tree-walking ability he could muster across every square inch of his skin to vent as much of the excess chakra from his body as possible.

It was futile. The small bits of chakra appearing in his body and adding to his total refilled his reserves far more quickly than he could deplete them. Any larger jutsu would no doubt yield the same result, and performing any powerful techniques inside Aoda's mouth would no doubt kill or seriously injure both of his allies.

A slight mercy was granted as the rate the foreign chakra appeared slowly started to decrease. He had no idea why, but he wasn't complaining.

It bought him some time, but he was still in a race against the clock.

He grasped at the phantom projections and mosaics of shape before him, attempting to use either his chakra or just plain physical force to induce some kind of tangible change to their current state. Using his chakra to stick to the malleable forms before him with varying degrees of strength applied brought him nothing. A watered-down Chidori weak enough to not pose any risk of injuring Aoda or Garuda had similarly disappointing outcomes.

Sasuke continued his attempts in defiance of these negative results. It was all he could do at this point.

A minute and a half more passed with no success even though the rate at which the chakra spawned had dropped to less than a fourth of what it was at the start. The pain had grown to unbearable levels and was starting to become so great that it was interfering with the rest of Sasuke's cognitive activity that was trying to escape what would certainly be the oddest death in history. The stabbing sensation did not spare the smallest portion of his body; arms, legs, head, brain, bones, groin, organs. Every pain receptor he had was **burning**.

The Uchiha was a second away from giving into the pain and releasing a scream of agony that would ultimately be unheard in the absolute silence of the void they were in, but fate chose that moment to give mercy. With a sudden lurch their journey ended, the void vanishing from sight in an instant to be replaced by the blackness of Aoda's mouth.

Their voyage over, Aoda wasted no time in ejecting his two passengers from his mouth, neither Sasuke nor Garuda in any condition or mood to bother drying themselves off from his saliva. For several minutes all three lay panting on the ground recovering from the shock of adrenaline, terror, and pain they had experienced.

Garuda was the first to rise, not willing to stay in a belly-up position that was disgraceful to his kind for any longer than necessary. He was not capable of speech, but that did not stop him from mentally cursing himself for being too panicked to have the presence of mind to simply de-summon himself before Sasuke-sama's opponent self-destructed. He had flown into the mouth of a snake; one of Manda's children no less! His flock would never let him live it down if they got wind of this.

The Hawk took a single glance at the landscape around them before cawing to his two comrades to get up; they needed to talk **now**.

The sole human amongst the group slowly collected himself after hearing his avian summons' call. The pain was gone but he was still exhausted and numb from the experience.

He rolled his head to the side towards Garuda but paused when instead of solid earth his head made a crunching noise on the somewhat soft substance it was lying in. The Uchiha suddenly became aware that his body seemed to be lodged into the same substance that was damp and nipping cold to the touch.

Onyx eyes shot open to reveal a different landscape from both the woodland they had fought Deidara in and the dark rocks of Ryuchi Cave.

Snow covered the land before him as far as he could see with more snowflakes gently drifted down from the sky to add to the white blanket about four inches deep already. The land was almost completely flat save for a handful of random contours that fell several feet above or below the plane of the ground. They were sitting in what was clearly a small meadow in warmer seasons with dormant trees free of any leaves or green forming the beginning of a forest of unknown size on any side of them.

To his rear Aoda reared himself up, further crushing and grinding several trees that had been unfortunate enough to be underneath him when he emerged from the void.

"Are you both alright?" the snake asked, concerned that his two passengers may have been harmed.

"We'll live" the Uchiha replied.

"Sasuke-sama, what **one earth** just happened?"

"Deidara's last blast somehow interfered with the reverse summoning. I don't suppose either of you know where we are?"

Both serpent and hawk shook their heads. Sasuke's first guess was they were somewhere in the Land of Snow, but quickly discarded that possibility. The Land of Snow and the location where they had fought Deidara were in a similar position in terms of longitude, with the former being a bit further east. It had been almost noon when he had started his battle with the explosion-happy Akatsuki, so it should have been two or three o'clock in the afternoon in Yukigakure.

A glance above him revealed not a bright midafternoon, but a dark sky that was in the middle of transitioning to night.

' _We must be somewhere on the other side of the world. Just_ _ **perfect**_ _…'_

Garuda took it upon himself to spread his wings and soar into the air, scouting out the area in case there was something recognizable or useful. He returned to the ground after less than a minute, ruffling his feathers when he touched down to keep warm from the biting cold.

A second of eye contact with the Sharingan was all Sasuke needed to have Garuda share the visions he had seen in the sky; it was an efficient way to communicate and share information given Garuda's verbal handicap.

There were no recognizable landmarks anywhere. The forest that surrounded them extended for miles in all directions, although the sea or some large body of water was a bit less than three miles to the south. Most importantly though a small number of houses and settlements were visible thirty miles north, meaning there were people here who could inform him of his location.

Sasuke thought through a few plans in his head before turning to his two summons.

"Both of you head back to your homes. I'll go find someone who can tell us where we just landed. Aoda, if Suigetsu summons you just tell him what happened and have him take the rest of the team to the Jade Hideout in the Land of Hot Water until I get back."

They both nodded in understanding and compliance before vanishing in puffs of smoke that lingered longer than normal in the frigid air. It was just as well Aoda left, his body would stay warm for some time due to his sheer size but he still did not prefer such low thermal conditions.

Sasuke did not have the same problem. Even without using a wafer of his fire-nature chakra to warm himself he could handle the cold. The Shinobi Academy had done its part to make sure all the children who went there were trained to handle and ignore moderate pain and discomfort. It wouldn't do to have operatives who would fail a mission because the weather was "not comfortable." One had to be able to handle sharp pain without hesitation if they were expected to bite their thumb hard enough to draw blood to perform a summoning.

He could have had Garuda give him a ride to save him some time, but a house-sized bird flying towards a town might not put the people who lived there in the mood to divulge the information he wanted.

Besides, he had already put both of his summons through hell traveling through that chaotic ether that would have overwhelmed even the most experienced acid addict.

The Uchiha flared his chakra to evaporate the saliva still clinging to his clothing before it could freeze. He had lost his traveling cloak in his battle with Deidara, leaving him with his thin white shirt as his only option for clothing on his upper body. In hindsight, it had been a poor decision to leave Jugo as the only member of Hebi carrying spare clothing around.

Though to be fair, he would have been an idiot to trust Karin or Suigetsu with the job.

With an exhale of visible condensation that was alien to someone that had grown up in the heat and humidity of the Land of Fire Sasuke turned the chakra on his feet into snowshoes as he used the water walking ability to prevent himself from trudging through the snow. There was no reason to leave tracks so someone or something could follow him after all.

Sasuke put one foot in front of the other and started running as a true shinobi; without adding a sound to the dead quiet that surrounded him. There were no leaves to rustle in the mild breeze, it was too cold for crickets, and whatever birds lived in the area had gone to greener areas for the winter. The only sound that accompanied Sasuke on the start of his trek was the rush of wind as he glided across the snow.

* * *

He had only been running for five minutes when a small twitch of movement was seen out of the corner of his eye a little over eighty yards away. He stopped abruptly, ready to see if the movement in question belonged to a person he could get directions from.

A few seconds later a low, gravelly rhythm of breathing reached his ears along with the crunch of snow that was too loud to be something as small as a person. Moments later the certainly-not human made its way through the trees toward the Uchiha on all fours, hunched over slightly in an almost ape-like manner.

' _What is that? I've never heard of a creature or a summon like this.'_

Even with his normal vision it was clear the thing before him was not made of ordinary flesh and bone. It was a wolf-like creature in shape, though proportionally had much larger forearms. It was much larger than a wolf too, standing a bit over five feet at the shoulder. The fur and skin that was visible was jet-black with no shade of any other color to be seen anywhere on its body.

The eyes, though, were what drew most of Sasuke's attention. There were no tomoe to be seen, but the vivid red that radiated from the eyes like small lanterns was a perfect copy of the hue of his Kekkei Genkai.

The creature stopped its advance about fifteen feet from Sasuke's position before revealing that it was capable of standing in a bipedal fashion, raising its head a full seven feet off the ground. It was clearly interested in him, the ears now perked up and fully pivoted straight at him to pick up any sound he made.

Sasuke drew his right hand to his Kusanagi. He would prefer not to fight this thing and waste his time, but he would have no problem putting this thing down if it attacked. He had killed a bear in the Forest of Death the size of a small house by crushing its skull with nothing but three kicks when he was twelve. If this thing thought it could take him on it was sadly mistaken.

The wolf entity did not make any aggressive moves though. It lowered itself to quadruped form again and tilted its head slightly as if it were confused as to what it was seeing.

Sasuke stood his ground as it hesitated with a single front paw raised off the ground in an unsure manner. Another moment passed and it started walking forward again, deciding to risk further inspection.

The Uchiha stood impassively, not at all concerned with the decreasing space between them. Even as the wolf stood on two legs again and placed its head inches from his own he felt no alarm. The thing would be lucky to move half an inch before he bisected it.

Sasuke began to become genuinely annoyed as the wolf somehow got the impression it had the right to _smell_ his hair. The strands of raven-black hair on his scalp were pulled toward ebony nostrils as they sampled the air around the Uchiha for any scent or particulate matter of interest.

Eyes narrowed as the Uchiha's patience started to wane.

' _I don't want to kill this thing for no reason, but would it be too much to ask for it to make up its mind?'_

The thought had barely finished forming in his head when Sasuke hastily stumbled back in shock, his hand having flown from his sword handle to cover the right side of his face.

The thing had **licked** him!

Sasuke's jaw clenched as he fought the urge to skewer the abomination before him that had so blatantly invaded his personal space.

' _That's it. I'm gone.'_

He had more important things to do than socialize with a mutated dog that thought he was a pup that needed to be cleaned. That was Kiba's job.

Sasuke resumed his run north after wiping the unwelcomed moisture from his cheek and around his eye. The creature thankfully was content to watch his departure, making no move to follow.

' _Hope I don't run into a pack of those things. I probably shouldn't kill them if I want to avoid antagonizing the people here though. If they're rare enough that I haven't heard about them then they might be an endangered or protected species.'_

* * *

Sasuke was over two-thirds of the way to where Garuda had seen a settlement when he spotted a group of the black wolves ahead of him slightly to his right running toward a section of the forest directly ahead of him but blocked from his view by trees.

' _Probably some carcass they found.'_

He prepared to divert his course, having no desire either to antagonize them by giving them the idea he would steal their kill or to have his face cleaned by a pack of the things instead of just one.

As he rounded about and came to the edge of a clearing though, he realized his mistake.

It was no animal, but a person the wolves were attracted to. And not in a good way if their body language and growling were any indication.

The person was small, probably a young teenager. A girl if he were to guess based on what little posture and bodily dimensions he could make out through the heavy cloak and hood, the latter of which was raised and prevented him from looking at the face of its owner. The attire the presumed girl wore was bright red. Black boots were the only item of clothing he could see that did not possess what had to be their favorite color.

The person did not have any visible weapons and was making no move to defend themselves or flee.

Sasuke drew Kusanagi without any hesitation. He was irritated at being forced to save another stranger who was in over their head but instinctively he knew he had to help.

He hadn't let that daughter of the Daimyo, Naho if he recalled, slip off that cliff to her death. And he wasn't about to start now.

As he prepared to attack his irritation was replaced by satisfaction. This could actually work in his favor. He had been looking for someone to help him anyway, and if he saved this person's life they would probably far more liberal sharing the information he wanted than if he had knocked on their door.

He could use a test battle as well. His bruises and scrapes from his earlier battle with Deidara were still reminding him of their presence as they stung from exposure to the biting cold air. His chakra reserves on the other hand had more than doubled from his clusterfuck of a reverse summoning (a suitable consolation for almost killing him, he had to admit) and while he was certainly excited about the change it would be wise to test his control a bit. He also needed to re-calibrate his jutsu so he didn't use up too much chakra or loose control of a technique that was now likely more powerful. This would be a perfect time to do just that.

Wanting to preserve every detail as clearly as possible, Sasuke activated his Sharingan as he lunged forward to attack and noticed a sharp contrast between the human and the black wolves.

His earlier assessment that the wolves were not composed of ordinary tissue was proven correct as his dojutsu revealed there was not a shred of ordinary matter composing their being. They were made of chakra. Pure chakra. It was not all that dissimilar from what a tailed beast was except for the obvious difference in size and the indescribable gap in power. These things had quantities of chakra that would be lucky to be comparable to the average ten-year old academy student.

The chakra they were made of was an oddity as well. Unlike the chakra that he and every other shinobi wielded that was composed of some mixture of Yin and Yang chakra, the bodies of these wolves were made of pure Yin chakra. It was a phenomenon he had thought impossible; everyone without exception had at least some quantity of each. The closest comparison he had seen was the Nine-Tails cloak Naruto had adorned in the latter stage of their battle at the Final Valley. Said cloak had been pure Yang chakra in comparison for some unknown reason, though Naruto's native chakra untainted by the Tailed Beast beneath the cloak had been a proper mixture of Yin and Yang, if extremely heavy lopsided in favor of the latter.

When he analyzed the human a split second later he almost did a double take. If the wolves were a weakened variation of tailed beasts, then the energy surrounding their hooded target was a watered-down Tailed Beast Cloak.

As with the black wolves there were some key differences between the two compared phenomena. Like the wolves the chakra cloak the stranger possessed was much weaker than what he had compared it to. Even the single-tailed version Naruto had used that was supposedly the weakest one he could form was at least one and a half orders of magnitude more powerful than what he was seeing now. And unlike Naruto's cloak the chakra surrounding the red-themed individual was solid, collected, and overall passive. It was a far cry from the vibrant and bubbling mass of chakra Naruto had used that could be shaped and extended at will like a living thing.

Still, it was similar enough that he could tell it would be able to function as a passive shield around the entire body. And if he was reading the color, texture, and flow of the chakra right it would also function as a mild healing factor just as Naruto's had. If he had to guess the individual had a chakra level roughly equal to a low chunin.

The person may not have been as helpless as they looked, but he decided to lend a hand anyway. He had already shot forward to attack the wolves lunging toward their target and had covered a third of the distance there before he had analyzed either of them in any case.

On the far left of his vision he saw his ally of circumstance withdraw what appeared to be a red-themed large rectangular metal object of some kind just before he intercepted three wolves with a Chidori-enhanced Kusanagi.

To the Uchiha's relief his chakra control was unaffected, and he only had to hold back a little bit more to fully compensate for his now much larger chakra levels.

In hindsight the technique he used was overkill. Their pitiful bodies disintegrated on contact into a black vapor that quickly diffused into the atmosphere.

He deactivated his Chidori Katana right before landing. He had successfully tested his chakra control and there was no need to waste any effort on creatures that he would have made short work of even at the age of seven.

He faced his next wolf, slashing the unenhanced blade clean through the skull before it could respond to his attack.

The now deceased wolf started to evaporate just like the first three he had killed, and he was able to see that not a shred of solid matter was left over as a corpse. Not even a drop of blood.

He split another wolf diagonally across the chest that had attempted to go around him and attack their original target when the sudden report of some kind of explosion reached Sasuke's ears.

He turned around in bewilderment at the unannounced sound and confused at the lack of heat and light the likes of paper bombs normally made.

His earlier assumptions about the stranger's age and gender were both proven correct as the hood covering her face was now pulled back, revealing neck length black hair with natural dark red tips. She was holding the metal device with both hands before using her finger to pull a small lever on the side. The source of the noise was immediately revealed as a burst of sound was emitted from what was clearly a weapon of some kind.

A metal projectile smaller in size than a senbon was ejected from the end of the device at speeds almost twice as fast as a kunai thrown by a Jonin. The piece of metal spun in midair during its one-way journey to blow out the torso of the wolf it was aimed at; a method to keep the aim of the projectile straight without curving one way or the other if he were to guess.

Several other wolves closed in on the girl, bringing them too close for her to use her ranged weapon. He started moving toward her to provide close-range support but paused as the metal weapon in her hand shifted into the form of a large scythe almost instantly completely automatically after the girl pushed a small button on its side. How the weapon could shift like that so quickly with no physical help from the girl aside from a button push was beyond him; batteries couldn't provide the necessary amount of power quickly enough to move the different pieces of metal so fast.

Mini-tailed beasts, a chakra cloak user with no Tailed Beast, and now an incredibly advanced weapon he had heard nothing about.

' _Where the hell am I?'_

The rather serious question would have to wait for later. The Uchiha had suspected the wolves would not be as tolerant of his presence if he interfered with their kill, and the multiple ones charging his way proved him right. They were quickly disposed of with various slashes and thrusts. Sasuke grabbed one charging individual by its head as it attacked from the opposite side of his latest kill before crushing the skull with an audible crunch in his hand. No blood or corpses meant he didn't have to worry about how clean his kills were.

With the wolves' numbers cut in half by his and the girl's efforts the Uchiha slowed his pace down and turned himself around to better watch his temporary ally in action.

She was clearly skilled with her weapon. Normally a weapon of that relative size to its wielder would play hell with their center of gravity, but she rather creatively used the scythe's inherit top-heavy imbalance to her advantage by using its extra momentum to boost her speed and change her direction more quickly. Even the backward thrust from the firing of the metal projectiles that he could tell would greatly disturb her aim if used consecutively was used as another force to help her move as she activated the weapon while it was aimed behind her to propel her relatively small body forward.

The fluidity and grace of her attacks yielded body after body. She spun and twisted her scythe in what could even be called an elaborate dance of lacerating force that bisected and dismembered anything that go too close.

Sasuke's eyes widened again when she used what appeared to be an alternate version of the Leaf-style Body-Flicker ability to kill the last wolf on her half of the battlefield. Though her resulting speed was not as impressive, and the chakra-produced green leaves his village was famous for adding to the technique was replaced by what appeared to be rose petals that were produced from the chakra cloak she wore. She then turned her weapon back into its original form before turned toward him, waiting for him to finish his end.

He was down to his last opponent now. He simply sheathed Kusanagi before snapping his leg forward toward the wolf attacking him from the front of all places. Sasuke's leg was flexible enough for him to land a push kick straight to the creature's face over six feet off the ground with enough force to cave in the skull.

He then faced the girl who he now saw also possessed eyes a shade of silver that could have been mistaken for a Hyuuga from a distance if one ignored the fact she did not share said clan's lack of pupils.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow as the girl clenched her hands together in front of her in an excited manner that gave the impression she was fighting the urge to jump up and down. He also instantly observed that she could probably pull off an incredibly powerful puppy face look to manipulate the minds of her friends and family if she so chose.

She was going to be disappointed if she thought it would work on him.

His gut reaction told him the girl thought he was really cute, but by some miracle he could comfortably tell his gut that his history of attracting women with a single glance was wrong in this case. She did not have the starry-eyed, love-struck gaze that too many females had around him; nor was she blushing or nervous. She was excited to see him for some odd reason, though he could not begin to imagine why.

Actually it was impossible for him to know. The words and sentenced that began to emerge from her mouth were utterly incomprehensible to him. He had landed somewhere so far from home they spoke a different **language**.

' _The first thing I'm going to do after I die is find Deidara in the afterlife and kick him in the balls as hard as I can. He could have just told me where Itachi was and we would both have been on our merry way. But no! He had to pick door number two, the suicide-bomb-slash-my-art-is-an-explosion door!'_

Sasuke was able to maintain a calm and collected face for the girl in front of him before raising his hand up to interrupt her monologue as well as the somewhat wild hand gestures she was making that seemed to be a poor reenactment of some of the moves he had just used to kill the black wolves.

"I do not speak that language."

Sasuke had hoped that by some miracle she would be bilingual and understand what he was saying, but fate had decided it has given him enough slack for one day. The girl tilted her head to the side in a manner any other person would have considered adorable or cute looking.

She replied with only a single word that he did not know, but her cocked eyebrow, the questioning intonation she added to the end of said word, and the rest of her body language was enough for him to get the general idea of the definition of the word "what".

"I do not understand what you are saying." It was pointless to utter the sentence if she couldn't comprehend it, he may as well have listed his favorite foods for all the good it would do. Still she now clearly understood the verbal barrier between them as her head perked up a bit and her mouth formed a small "o" in understanding.

The girl did not give an awkward pause after discovering their variations of tongue nor did she show signs of hesitation to further communicate with him.

Instead she lifted her hand until her palm was directly facing him before uttering an obvious greeting of some kind before pointing to herself.

"Ruby Rose."

Well at least she had better manners than Neji Hyuuga.

"Sasuke Uchiha."

Ruby Rose gave a friendly smile as she was prone to do. Sasuke did not smile, but he did ever so slightly relax some of the muscles on his face to produce a look that was a bit softer than the indifferent gaze he wore as a habit.

Some things were universal apparently, as both brought their right arms up for a simple handshake.

Any historian worth their salt will know that there are certain points in history and time where key events happen that forever and irreparably change the nature of the world. The years of written history are written around events so important that their age is not measured by their distance from the present, but by how far before or after the event they are. Anyone from an outside universe or reality looking back at Remnant's past would be able to easily identify **this** as the defining moment that marked a colossal change. It would not become apparent immediately, but this was the boundary. The end of one era and the beginning of another was marked by two strangers who did not speak the same language shaking their hands.

* * *

AN: Phew, nearly pulled an all-nighter to finish this!

Several of you have brought up that I'm doing alright keeping Sasuke in character. Thanks for the vote of confidence! It may become more difficult later, but I'll do my best to keep everyone else as true to their personalities as I can. I tried to give Ruby, Garuda and Aoda _some_ measure of individual character in the relatively short 'screen time' they had here. Let me know if you think it's accurate or if I need to work on putting myself in different characters' shoes when I continue with the story and introduce the rest of the cast.

Also let me know if my fight scenes need some work. This was a simple one that in practical terms was just a tester for me, but if any of you have pointers let me know.

If any of you are wondering how I got the idea for some of the details for Sasuke's trip, I based some of it off a youtube video called Carl Sagan 4th Dimension. Just follow the journey of the red square if you want to have a _very_ general idea of what Sasuke went through here.

BTW, if any of you are wondering how much of an asshole for details I am I got a story for you. I tried to base the direction Sasuke took on Patch (if you haven't figured out that's where they landed you can explain to me how exactly you did not see or do not remember the **FIRST** trailer of the entire RWBY series), as well as the distance to the ocean and the town on the actual map of Patch by comparing the length of the island to the length of Remnant's circumference. The resulting fraction was multiplied by the number of miles in earth's circumference (24901 miles) to get the dimensions of the island. Turns out if our planet and Remnant are the same size, Patch is about 300 miles across.

Yeah, the "small island" Qrow mentions in the WOR series is 300 miles across. I actually cut the size of Patch in half when I wrote this because I didn't want it too big. And going by scale its over 400 miles from patch to Vale, and the city of Vale itself is about a _thousand_ miles in length from Beacon to the coast. Am I supposed to believe Ruby when she said she could see Signal Academy when she was on the airship above Beacon in Volume 1 that was about 1500 miles away? That they travelled the thousand miles between Beacon and the docks at the end of said volume? I call bullshit.

And while we're on the subject of geography, I would be grateful if anyone who works at or knows someone at Rooster Teeth could explain to me how Patch and Vale are covered in snow when THEY ARE ON THE GODDAMN EQUATOR! How do these places even have winter? It should be a once a century event for the temperature to dip below seventy degrees Fahrenheit!

I'm going to get creative with some of the details of this story to have make any sense…

End of my rant, sorry you had to hear that.

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed, read and review please! Flamers go fuck yourselves!


	3. Down the Rabbit Hole

AN: Next chapter, finally!

Don't Mind Me- Thanks for the feedback, it means a lot. Feel free to point out anything you think needs work.

AzureFan2- I agree with you 100% on Sasuke's character. It's easy to forget before the Kage Summit arc Sasuke wasn't even a villain yet, he was just a shinobi that wasn't a member of any village. At that point he still kind of is the silent and cool kind of person he was before he left Konoha. It's one of the main reasons I chose Hebi Sasuke for this story instead of a later version.

Danish78- Sasuke did have chakra to spare at the end of his battle with Deidara in this story, but he was still running relatively low. In chapter 1 I had Sasuke first try to summon Garuda to escape the blast because it wouldn't take as much chakra as his larger snakes, but he had to resort to his Great Snake Escape when Deidara revealed Garuda couldn't fly far enough away in time. He didn't run low enough on chakra to allow Orochimaru to escape, but in this story as well as in canon I think he came close to that point. As for using his Curse Mark, you'll have to keep reading!

blankdead- Yeah I wasn't going to have him conveniently speak the same language as the inhabitants of a different world. I do have plans to bring the language difference further into the story later on if you keep reading!

ThE 4SsAsSiN 21- I could tell you, but where's the fun in that? Don't worry, that question will be answered later (maybe a lot later).

LordAzrael1- Preach it! Someone finally gets me! All the Naruto Uzumaki fics have him essentially be a fictional Jesus Christ, fix everyone's problem via clones and/or talk no jutsu, etc. None of that for me, thank you very much. I want some struggle; be it against an external foe or a more personal conflict that isn't solved so easily. Naruto's general Mary-Sue character he is frequently written as is the last thing I want to see. Not to mention it's so difficult to find a story here that he's not in. He's almost like a YouTube or TV ad that seems like a good product or service but pops up so frequently you just want to punch the wall and make it go away because you've already seen it 30 times.

The reviewer FerunaLutelou brought up a good point in their comments that I feel I should address. The whole 'screw the flamers' thing I've written in the previous chapters should be explained a bit so everyone knows exactly who I am and am not referring to. If you personally disagree with anything I've written and leave a review explaining why you are more than welcome to. No problems with that at all.

The people I am pre-emptively insulting are the ones who go into a sushi restaurant to order barbecue, get pissed off the place doesn't serve what they want, and instead of just leaving throw a tantrum trying to wreck everyone else's good time. **They** can go screw themselves.

If by chance FerunaLutelou does read this, I am grateful for you pointing this out even if we disagree elsewhere. Hope you have a pleasant day.

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or Naruto and am making no profit from either of these franchises whatsoever.

' _thoughts'_

* * *

 **Uchiha of Remnant**

Chapter 3: Down the Rabbit Hole

Ruby had seen him appear out of nowhere, slaughtering Beowolves without effort with a short sword. She had thought he was a young Hunter, or a student from Beacon at first.

Once the battle ended she couldn't contain what her older sister had called 'fangirl mode'. She couldn't help it, he had just been so cool! The moves, his strikes, and that last kick that had crushed the head of the last Beowolf. And that first attack that had turned his sword into a real lightning blade was one of the most awesome things she had ever seen!

She had been very confused when it became clear that he did not understand her or speak the same language. She couldn't remember exactly when, but hadn't the whole world been speaking Valerian for almost a hundred years?

She didn't consider herself skilled at making friends, certainly not as easily as her sister. But a simple name exchange and handshake was a good idea, right?

Ruby released her grip on Sasuke's hand after she shook it before taking a closer look at him. Now that she had calmed down from her earlier excitement she could see that he was a bit beat up. It didn't look like anything serious, but what had he fought if he handled all those Grimm so easily?

It was then that Ruby let out a gasp and raised her hands to her mouth in concern as she realized another detail.

' _What in the world is he wearing!? How did he get out here without a jacket or any winter clothing? Did he lose it in whatever fight he was in before this?'_

How Sasuke had gotten out here wasn't important now. She needed to bring him home where he wouldn't get frostbite and have her dad check that his wounds weren't bad.

' _Maybe dad will know someone who can understand him and help him get home!'_

Ruby grabbed his sleeve and began pulling him with her along the path before it was yanked from her grip. Sasuke had an annoyed look on his face, refusing to be dragged anywhere.

"We have to get you inside and fix your wounds up!" Ruby exclaimed, gesturing to his cuts and bruises. "It's only a few miles this way!"

She had barely finished uttering the last word of her sentence when the boy's eyes morphed into a scarlet hue. It was not dissimilar from what Yang's eyes looked like when she was angry minus the three comma shaped marks surrounding the pupil.

A pulse of slight pressure was felt the next instant across her face and head, followed by a very mild feeling of lightheadedness similar to when someone stood up too quickly from a sitting or squatting position.

' _What did he just do?'_

Sasuke was clearly confused too, his eyebrow now slightly raised giving him a questioning look as opposed to his earlier look of neutrality.

' _He couldn't have just tried to attack me, he would have done that earlier if he had wanted to. And his eyes aren't like Yang's. He's not angry.'_

He then gave an almost silent sigh of someone who accepted a less than desirable outcome but didn't want to before simply walking to her side and gesturing for her to lead the way.

"Alright, that was weird…" Ruby muttered to herself awkwardly as they started along the path, not noticing that only one of them was leaving footprints. She was curious what he had just tried to do, but it wasn't like she could ask him.

It was weird not being able to talk to someone, she couldn't imagine what it was like for him.

* * *

They arrived at Ruby's house ten minutes later, though only one needed to scrape their feet on the mat to rid their footwear of snow before entering. The girl had noticed that for someone who was wearing a summer-thin shirt and sandals in freezing weather he did not look uncomfortable. There was no redness around his ears or nose, and there was not a shiver or chatter of teeth she could see.

"Dad, I'm back! I need your help with something!"

"I'll be right there sweetie, I just need to put dinner in the oven first."

Ruby gestured for Sasuke to follow her before leading him to the middle of the living room, pausing to wait for her father to finish his work in the kitchen. In seconds Sasuke was assaulted and inspected by the black and white Corgi that dwelled there, the dog trying to determine if this new face that was clearly invited inside could be persuaded to give belly rubs.

Taiyang came through the door before Zwei realized he was wasting his time, the blonde able to tell from his daughter's tone that though she needed assistance it was not an emergency.

"Alright what do- who is that?" the patriarch of the home asked, taking in the worn appearance of the boy.

"His name is Sasuke, he helped me kill some Grimm that attacked me on my way back from visiting Mom. But he doesn't have any winter clothes and he got some injuries from something else before he found me."

"Why on earth are you traveling outside without a jacket kid? Haven't you heard of hypothermia?"

"Oh, and he can't speak Valerian."

"What? That shouldn't be possible. It's been over a century since the last non-Valerian speaking colony was destroyed."

"Dad I'm serious! Look- Sasuke, say something." Ruby said turning toward their guest, miming talking movements with her hands to get her request across.

Sasuke only gave a look of annoyance before he replied "Omai saa maji andaasutando oi."

"…Alright, so he can't. You can call me Taiyang" the blonde said, pointing toward himself so the boy knew he was giving his name. "I'll get the first-aid kit real quick. I don't think there's anything serious but it never hurts to make sure."

Taiyang left the room before Ruby returned her gaze to the raven-haired youth. She sat down haphazardly on the side of the couch next to Zwei's bed, scratching the canine's ears before patting the area next to her to indicate Sasuke could sit down. He accepted the offer, though he did so with a straight back and legs that were positioned such that he could get to his feet at a moment's notice if he needed to. The eyes of the boy in question were darting up, down, and sideways as he observed his surroundings. Speech may have been off the table but even someone as young as Ruby could tell he was giving his full attention to every detail of the room.

Her father returned less than a minute later with the first-aid, confident he would only need some Neosporin and maybe a few band-aids.

Sasuke obviously knew what they were for and removed his shirt without any prompting, but clearly was of the opinion that treatment was not necessary. Taiyang quickly found the worst scrapes and cuts; thankfully none of them were serious. The boy was certainly correct that he did not need any help, but years of cleaning and band-aiding small injuries on his two wild and energetic daughters had brought several habits that were hard to break.

Taiyang took a quick look at the boy's face before starting, trying to make quick eye contact and make sure he was okay with being physically touched by someone who was by all intents and purposes a stranger.

He froze and had to suppress a shiver of fear when he saw the look Sasuke was giving him. His face had taken a neutral expression with no anger, no sign of anxiety or nervousness, and no threatening signals at all. But the focus, the intensity of his gaze was beyond words. Onyx eyes so black in shade it was impossible to tell the boundary between pupil and iris stared into his very soul. Taiyang had no doubt at that moment that he could not move a muscle the smallest distance without the boy noticing.

 _Predator._ That was the label the primitive portion of his mind had given Sasuke. Not a mindless creature of destruction like a Grimm, but something far more cunning and unpredictable. A snake before a lethal strike, a cat before pouncing, a bird of prey before diving on its victim. That was what the boy was right now. Camouflaging his intentions in a non-threatening manner, waiting for just the right trigger to strike.

If he did anything Sasuke didn't like, he would have a fight on his hands.

Taiyang began applying the ointment in a slow and deliberate manner after that first pause, the conscious part of his brain reminding him that he should not be so quick to judge and that treating a guest who had helped his daughter and had not displayed any hostility in such a suspicious manner was quite rude.

Calloused fingers gently dabbed the scraped and cut portions of skin, the owner of said fingers making a conscious effort to not tremble his hands or breathe unevenly. Ruby was young and a bit naïve; enough so that she did not pick up on the tension.

Her father wanted to keep it that way. Ruby was clearly worried about the young man and was grateful for his earlier help even if she hadn't needed it. Burdening her mind with such knowledge was not something he wanted for her.

"So do you know anyone who can help him find his way home, or wherever he came from?"

"I can try calling Ozpin tomorrow. If anyone has got the connections to figure this out it's him." Taiyang replied, trying not to let his relief of having a credible diversion of his attention be noticed.

"Oh! Oh! That means it will be like a sleepover tonight! He can stay in the guest room! And he can meet Yang when she gets back!"

"Well that will have to wait until tomorrow." Taiyang had replied matter-of-factly, but inside he realized that his innocent youngest daughter had picked the best possible time to bring home a strange boy with a questionable history.

Yang was at a slumber party with some of her many friends, which was a good thing right now in his opinion. She had blossomed into both a social butterfly and a prime target for teenage boys, a combination that would have given any father a lot to worry about. She did have standards though, he still remembered falling to the ground with laughter after hearing from Ruby how she knocked out a guy from college who had called her a bimbo in his pick-up line. There was no shortage of similar stories regarding guys she had rejected, and he had no doubt she could handle herself and beat the crap out of any boy who did anything she didn't approve.

The problem that was thankfully avoided for now was that there were a lot of things about Sasuke she would approve of. The unknown language he used gave an exotic quality to him, something **all** women liked. Straight or otherwise, it was painfully obvious to him that the boy was incredibly good looking, definitely heartbreaker material. The calm and indifferent look on his face that seemed to be his normal expression certainly gave off an "I know I'm better than everyone" vibe that he had seen Qrow use to great effect with local women when they were on missions. It was probably more to hide his thoughts and emotions than assert his superiority over others if Taiyang was judging his response to physical contact correctly, but it was what it looked like that mattered.

As if he needed anything to add to that he had demonstrated for Ruby he was a capable fighter. His shirtless form revealed a toned and incredibly lean body that was clearly the result of extreme physical training by someone who did not want to obtain sheer bodybuilding power at the expense of speed and agility. To top it off, he had several small wounds from another unknown battle before that as well as what appeared to be several tattoos on his arms and left shoulder. A bad boy through and through if one were to go off his appearance, something Yang's rebellious teenage phase would no doubt love.

"I need to get back to getting dinner ready, I'll need to turn the chicken in a few minutes." Taiyang remarked, finishing treating Sasuke's wounds none too soon in his opinion. "I'll heat a few leftovers up to account for our guest too. You want to watch some TV while you're waiting? Your friend might recognize something on the news."

Ruby proved herself a proper teenager and jumped at the chance to watch TV, even if was something as boring as the local news. "Good idea! Hey dad, do you think…?"

"We're eating at the table sweetheart."

A pout that went unseen by her father made its way to her mouth, but she still wasted no time in grabbing the remote and turning the TV on. She would have preferred watching cartoons but trying to find some kind of clue to help Sasuke was more important.

Ruby's obsession with watching the images on the screen meant she did not see the look of surprise, then shock and confusion as he saw television images being projected not from a flat screen, but from a small device that seemed to 'beam', for lack of a better word, the two-dimensional images into thin air.

"-ayor Wyck is still performing well in recent polls in his bid for re-election despite multiple criticisms of the steady rise in crime rate and dust robbery that have been seen in the past several weeks. Some have argued that…"

Ruby turned her head and saw her new friend's ebony eyes glued to the screen. Not with a mindless gaze that her sister would have had, but a sharp and focused look that left no doubt in her mind that he was analyzing everything he saw and heard as thoroughly as he had the living room earlier.

Unfortunately, there were no images or words that Sasuke showed any reaction to before Taiyang called them in to the dining room/kitchen with the smell of chicken and excessively buttered mashed potatoes greeting their nostrils. The blonde gestured to the seat to his right that was opposite Ruby to indicate where Sasuke would sit.

Sasuke did so wordlessly, Taiyang pleasantly surprised that he immediately placed his napkin on his lap and sat with a straight posture that Yang and Ruby would do well to emulate.

' _Look at that, a teenager that doesn't slouch and has no elbows on the table. I never thought I would see the day. And without any verbal reminder to not touch his plate until the host starts the meal. Whoever his parents are did a good job teaching him basic manners.'_

These new positive impressions were not enough to erased Taiyang's suspicions and questions about the boy's origins as they began their dinner. Ruby was trusting and did not have the experience or the heart to ask some of the serious questions he would have asked the youth before allowing him to enter his home if they had spoken the same tongue.

' _The same language has been spoken across Remnant by all of its recorded population without exception for over a century. For him to not know it he must have come from a settlement that has been completely cut off from the outside world for at least that length of time. And to get to Patch he had to have travelled across the ocean teeming with hostile Grimm with what must have been primitive technology. That is a difficult task by itself, but to do it with a vessel small enough for one person to crew it? I don't see how it's possible. And what about his injuries? Some of his wounds had small scorch marks on them, something no Grimm could have given him. Who was he fighting? And on Patch of all places? This is about the most peaceful area of Remnant there is.'_

Outside of his mind the mood and conversations of the Xiao Long-Rose dinner table was unchanged from the norm, albeit less noisy and boisterous due to the absence of a second blonde. All the while their guest watched with rapt attention, closely paying attention to the body language, voice tone, and syllables being exchanged in front of him. About ten minutes in he had picked up enough to utter the phrase "Please pass pepper", enough to temporarily drop the jaws of father and daughter. The head of the family was certainly grateful for Sasuke aiding his youngest daughter, but the analytical nature and apparently ridiculous learning curve he possessed was unnerving.

Sasuke still did not know enough vocabulary to understand much of anything else being said, and the rest of dinner passed uneventfully. Taiyang was again impressed by the boy's etiquette as he began cleaning dishes when they were all finished.

His opinion may have been different if he had noticed his guest discreetly unlocking the window in front of the sink when he wasn't looking.

Despite Ruby's wishes to continue watching TV with Sasuke, Taiyang insisted the two of them go to sleep despite it only being 8:30. It was earlier than he normally would have made her turn in, but Sasuke needed to recover from whatever experience had brought him here. And they would have to get up early to make a few calls and potentially take him to the nearest Immigration Office. At least, that was what he told Ruby.

Privately he wanted his guest to begin his slumber well before he did. Taiyang knew it was unlikely that Sasuke would try anything hostile- he was essentially an illegal alien with no friends or contacts that had no way of communicating with the people here and he knew it. Still, his years as a Huntsman had left him with several more cautious habits. Even if Sasuke didn't want attack or ransom them he could still steal their valuables.

Taiyang set up a simple tripwire outside of the guestroom door after he sent Sasuke in to retire for the night. He probably wouldn't need it, but it was better safe than sorry.

* * *

Unfortunately for Taiyang he was a Huntsman, not a Shinobi. And for a shinobi of Sasuke's caliber the thought of escaping his room through the door never even crossed his mind.

' _Leaving through the most obvious entrance and exit point and going straight into a hallway that both of my hosts can observe by merely poking their heads out of their own rooms? What kind of idiot does he take me for?'_ Sasuke thought to himself as he clearly heard his host set up some kind of trap or alarm outside.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes- the fool could set up his little trap if he wanted to. He had already planned for such a scenario anyway.

Sasuke's time with Ruby and her father had been both incredibly disturbing and a rather pointless use of his time. The language barrier was an annoyance he had attempted to eliminate immediately after meeting Ruby by placing her under a genjutsu and speaking to her mind directly, learning where he was as well as whatever tongue they spoke here. He had been shocked when his genjutsu attempt did not just fail, it didn't even work. Genjutsu was a subtle art that worked by manipulating chakra in the target's brain to manipulate their senses. Specifically, it manipulated the Yin chakra of a target. It was obvious to the Uchiha then that Ruby's lack of Yin chakra in her chakra cloak was not just skin-deep but applied to her entire body. If that was the case, then her and any other locals who had a similar Yin-exclusive chakra network would be completely immune by default to any genjutsu attempt.

Why he had never heard of such people with radically different chakra networks he had no idea, but it had forced him to change his plans. Without knowing the spoken or written language here he would have to find a visual map or atlas by himself and then pick the best route home he could find.

With that in mind he had taken the girl up on her offer to take him to what he had presumed would be her home. The girl's father had borne a far greater resemblance to Naruto than he would have cared to see; if he had served any variation of Ramen for dinner he would have left the house and never looked back. Fortunately he did not seem to share any of Naruto's more annoying habits and had been willing to apply some sort of healing cream to his wounds.

He had thought Taiyang and Ruby were both shinobi or whatever equivalent this country had considering he could clearly sense chakra from both of them far too high for a civilian, but their behavior spoke otherwise. No shinobi of any rank would consider taking in a complete stranger who could not speak the language who had been in an unknown conflict into their personal home. If the same thing had happened in Konoha the person in question would have been taken straight to the Torture and Interrogation Department with no questions asked.

The Uchiha had been rather miffed that they had thought he needed treatment- it was obvious none of his injuries were even remotely serious. He had seen fit to glare at the father of the house as a warning to not try anything. He was not about to let a complete stranger in an unknown land physically contact him without a clear warning regardless of his kindness.

He had been subjected to another unwelcome surprise before dinner when Ruby had picked up a small remoted control for what he had assumed was a TV. He didn't see the characteristic rectangular device anywhere, but was proven wrong when she pointed it at a short table in front of them and activated a television screen from seemingly nowhere. The images were projected into thin air- something he had never heard about. He activated his Sharingan for a brief moment to see if chakra or something else was being used to create the image, but found nothing. It was legitimately just light that had somehow been projected into empty space.

At that point he became genuinely concerned. This was an invention that was clearly being used by civilians and had no reason to be kept a national secret. That being the case he should have heard about such a technological innovation no matter how far away from home he was.

Seeing as he was going to be forced to stay in whatever this land was for at least several days, good impressions and manners were called for to stay in their good graces. He didn't _need_ their help but being a guest in a home with heating was a superior alternative to staying outside in the snow. So, he pulled out all of his knowledge of proper guest and dining room etiquette that both of his parents had hammered into his psyche. Coming from an older and more traditional clan meant that proper manners were taken _very_ seriously and were taught early.

Fortunately whatever cultural differences existed between him and his hosts did not extend to table habits, and the Naruto look-alike had obviously been pleased with him.

Dinner had been a dynamic experience for him; he had made a clear attempt to follow their conversation and try to find out which words meant what. It was classical code-breaking, one of his personal favorite academic subjects at the academy that had been taught to them in their third year. He made careful observations of syllables, pronunciations and various tones; memorizing and filing them away with dozens of others. When he heard any memorized phrase again he simply compared both occasions it was used. The posture, body language, the direction the speaker's eyes were facing, and the preceding and following actions of his hosts were recalled and analyzed in his brain to determine the meaning of what was being spoken in front of him.

He had managed to gleam some of the new vocabulary as his attempt to ask for what he recognized as pepper had been successful. The words 'salt', 'fork', 'knife', 'napkin', 'chair', 'your', 'I', 'dad', and 'amazing' had been decoded by the end of the meal.

No words needed to be understood for him to know that the head of the family did not trust him despite his politeness. Not that Sasuke could blame him; if he had a stranger that didn't speak the language with a young teenage daughter in his house he wouldn't trust them either. It posed a minor problem since he still needed to find some kind of map he could read, and he could see none on any of the walls. He would have to search after the family went to sleep, probably avoiding whatever safeguards Taiyang put in place to prevent him from sneaking out.

With that in mind he started washing dishes next to a window large enough to crawl through before unlocking the latch when neither of his hosts were looking to leave himself a suitable entrance if he had to sneak into the house from the outside.

' _Glad I thought ahead'_ the Uchiha remarked to himself as he jumped to the ground from the second-story guest room window. Less than a minute later he re-entered the abode with no sound to betray his presence. As long as he left the lights off he would not be discovered. Ruby and Taiyang had gone to their respective bedrooms three hours ago, and Sasuke had just now heard the sounds of steady, slow breathing from both of them that indicated they were asleep.

Ruby had found slumber almost immediately, but her father had clearly decided to stay awake for longer to make sure Sasuke wasn't going to try exactly what he was now doing.

Quickly adjusting his eyes to the darkness was a simple enough feat. Even without the Sharingan most shinobi could still focus some chakra to their eyes to improve their sight in a similar manner chakra could be used to reinforce hearing or muscle strength.

And it wasn't like he was going to stoop so low as to resort to his clan's prized bloodline to find his way in the dark.

He made a beeline for the bookshelf he had seen in the living room before glancing at his options. He could not read the titles, but it stood to reason a book showing a map of the world would be rather tall and skinny compared to shorter thicker ones that were likely works of fiction.

Sasuke went through several gardening, home improvement, and cookbooks before he finally found what he was looking for.

Or at least he thought he had until he flipped through the first several pages and found himself looking at both a world map as well as smaller regional maps that did not match any of the elemental nations. Actually, they didn't match anything he was familiar with.

His first thought was he had stumbled across an atlas of some fictional world, but the blood started to freeze in his veins when he realized the entire book he was holding contained nothing but unfamiliar maps. Why would anyone print an entire book with nothing but atlases of a fictional world without any background text or supporting chapters and stories? It made no sense.

The fundamentally different nature of chakra, the unknown technology, and now a map of a world that was not his own. Sasuke's eyes began to widen at the logical conclusion he was coming to.

Fortunately at the very back of the book was a rather convenient way he could test such a finding. He could not understand any of the words, but the pictures of a **shattered** moon in different phases spoke for itself. He couldn't look at the earth to see the shape of its landmasses for himself to verify the book's authenticity, but he could look outside and see if the moon was accurately represented in the atlas before him.

' _The moon is full right now, I remember seeing it before I fought those wolves with Ruby, so I won't be able to see any shattered pieces now anyway. But if the illustrations here are accurate it is still different from the moon I'm familiar with. The craters and lunar mare are still arranged differently, so I should still be able to tell the two apart.'_

Desperately hoping he was wrong, Sasuke went back outside through the kitchen window before turning his gaze upward.

The moon he saw matched the book perfectly- down to the last crater. Activating his Sharingan in a last-ditch attempt to dispel any genjutsu or illusion only further confirmed what was right in front of him. His bloodline was able to make out small pieces of the moon breaking off and start floating away to begin the lunar cycle of this world again.

He wasn't in another part of the world, he was in a different world altogether.

Sasuke was once again fighting the urge to panic, his brain working furiously to make sense of what had happened and to figure out his next course of action.

' _Calm down, think this through. Deidara interfered with the reverse summoning somehow, that's what brought me here. If I can travel from the elemental countries to this world through that…place, it stands to reason I can get back as well. But how? I don't even know what exactly happened to shift our destination to begin with!'_

It was then that Sasuke remembered his two summons that had been along with him for his unplanned journey.

' _Garuda and Aoda were both able to de-summon, so they should have made it back to the Elemental Nations. If that's the case, then all I have to do is summon Aoda again and perform another reverse summoning with no interference this time.'_

The Uchiha quickly made his way several hundred yards from the home of his hosts, making sure he was far enough away from it and any other residences that Aoda wouldn't smash them by accident when he was summoned.

Wasting no more time, he bit his thumb and successfully summoned the massive serpent.

"Sasuke-sama, thank goodness! I appeared in the middle of the ocean when I de-summoned myself instead of Ryuchi Cave, I can't sense it anywhere!" Aoda explained, flawlessly crushing Sasuke's earlier optimism. "The nature energy of this place is so rare, I could barely feel any in the sea I was in. And I was attacked by some black whale that was made entirely of Yin chakra, almost like a Tailed Beast! Have you found any information as to where we are? Do you know if Garuda had something similar happen to him?"

Sasuke immediately pressed his hand to the earth again, summoning Garuda in a puff of smoke to answer Aoda's question. A quick genjutsu conversation revealed the Hawk had faced a similar problem returning home that Aoda had, though he had ended up in an outdoor market in a small village somewhere instead. After appearing from thin air and scaring the vendors and customers half to death he had flown off to search for his nest that he should have returned to automatically when he was de-summoned. His search had been in vain and he had observed many of the black chakra creatures that Aoda and Sasuke had also seen.

"We're not in our world anymore, that reverse summoning somehow pulled all of us into a parallel earth of some kind. The map of the world is completely different and the moon breaks and reforms itself during its lunar cycle here. And since neither of you made it back to your homes it's safe to assume we cannot get back with normal means."

The eyes of both summons widened at his words, quickly comprehending the seriousness of the situation they were in.

"There has to be a way back Sasuke-sama! You need to return to your team and Garuda and I have families waiting for us. Would it be possible to attempt another reverse summoning if we modify the sealing for it to compensate for Deidara's interference?"

"It is possible in theory" Sasuke asserted, having gone through this line of thought a bit already. "Unfortunately, it will take time. We will have to create the additional seals from scratch, and none of us can be considered Fuinjutsu masters, so it will take a while before it will be ready."

His previous statement did not do true justice to the problem they faced. Fuinjutsu was notorious for being extremely temperamental and picky. Hard to get right, easy to get wrong. None of his summons had any real experience with sealing other than the ones that they used for summoning themselves and would not be able to help with the extensive modifications that would no doubt be needed.

Sasuke was much better off than they were. While Fuinjutsu was hardly his preferred shinobi art and he had spent a comparatively short time learning it, he had learned enough to be considered reasonably competent. Orochimaru had made sure that he had learned the basics for all shinobi arts even if his natural skills with sealing were not as impressive as his ninjutsu and genjutsu talents.

Unfortunately, what he was going to be attempting was as far from basic as it could get. The delicate nature of space-time jutsu in general meant there was no room for error. The smallest slip or unforeseen factor could render the jutsu useless, transport them to another dimension altogether, turn their bodies inside-out, or anything in between. It was also going to take far more chakra to use than a standard summoning to make up for the extra energy needed to break dimensions instead of just space-time. Deidara's explosion had provided the extra boost before but Sasuke, Aoda, and Garuda would have to supply the extra energy this time.

Getting the formula, the markings, and the design exactly right from his relatively mediocre knowledge of seals was going to take weeks of blueprints, rough drafts, and second-guessing.

' _We're going to be here for a while,'_ Sasuke thought to himself, clenching his teeth in frustration. _'And in that case Garuda and Aoda are going to have to find somewhere to hide until we leave. They likely don't represent any native fauna, so anyone who sees them is going to either try to kill or capture them.'_

Not that they couldn't take care of themselves, but it was a hassle he would rather avoid. He had no idea what kind of threats this world held. Nothing so far had impressed him, but it was extremely unlikely the creatures and two people he had met were the most powerful beings here. Sasuke, Aoda, and Garuda could be the strongest living things on this planet, weaker than this world's equivalent of Chunin, or anything in between. There was simply no way of knowing right now.

A brief shriek from Garuda caught the Uchiha's attention; the bird making deliberate eye contact in a clear request to speak to him via genjutsu.

" _If we're going to be here for long it would be prudent for Aoda and I to find respective dwellings away from prying eyes until we can leave"_ Garuda began, having come to the same conclusion his summoner had. He then continued _"And you need to learn the language and customs of this place before starting work on the seal. You have a fundamentally different chakra network than anyone else here from what I have seen and are an illegal alien. If the authorities catch you with no identification you'll be either arrested or detained, maybe on an operating table if they realize your chakra is different."_

" _There is no time to waste integrating here"_ Sasuke argued, _"I can just hide out in a forest somewhere, make a shelter, and get all the food I need while working on our way home."_

" _It won't be that simple"_ Garuda countered. _"When I was flying around I saw several flying vehicles of some kind make several passovers of outlying wilderness around three separate settlements as well as armed patrols on foot venturing out miles from their villages. If you are found by these people in the middle of nowhere and can't speak the language it is going to lead to some difficult questions that you will not be able to answer. And if civilization here is anything like shinobi villages, where do you think they will put you then? It will be easier for you to hide by finding a populated area and blending in."_

Garuda had a point. If he was captured now, he would be locked in a lab like Suigetsu was or shoved into an underground cell in isolation until they could figure out what to do with him. There was no way he would let that happen, but then remembered his lack of knowledge about this world.

' _There could be fighters here that are stronger than me. And even if there aren't the technology I saw earlier in Ruby's house is far more advanced than anything back home. It stands to reason advanced weaponry that could kill me may be commonplace here.'_

Sasuke deactivated the genjutsu on Garuda, the avian's point having been made.

"I'll try to find the local library and start learning the language here" Sasuke informed his two companions. "After that I'll go to the nearest large village I can find and stay there until I create the seal to get us home. You two need to find a remote area to stay until it's ready. I'll summon you if I need help, so you might want to create a new den or nest respectively until we leave. We can't have you two being teleported to random locations every time you two are de-summoned here."

"Understood Sasuke-sama. If you need any help don't hesitate to summon us" Aoda said before burrowing underneath the frozen ground, the earth rezipping itself up after his tail disappeared. Garuda then took flight, cawing what was probably a 'good luck' to Sasuke before disappearing into the night sky.

* * *

The problem with staying in this land for the long haul was that until he created a fake identity for himself, he could not be interacting with anyone here lest they turn him in to whatever authorities handled unknown individuals. And that meant he could not stay with Ruby and Taiyang- people representing some department or another would arrive to take him somewhere in a day or two.

Normally he would have just left; probably 'borrowing' a few of his hosts' clothing or food before doing so. The only possessions he had were the clothes on his back, his sword, and his kunai pouch, so he needed to obtain more supplies.

The thought had crossed the Uchiha's mind however that resorting to thievery now might not turn out well in the long term. If for some reason he was captured and Ruby or Taiyang came forward and identified him, it would be better if he didn't give them any reason to speak negatively of him.

It was for that potential scenario that Sasuke was now placing a single kunai on the kitchen counter before he made his way out. It was a primitive barter payment, but it was all he could do. Hopefully they would get the message that he was grateful for their hospitality. And it wasn't like he was giving them anything too valuable, he had plenty of kunai to spare.

With that Sasuke exited the Xiao Long-Rose home without a sound, running across the snow toward what he assumed was the center of whatever village he was in.

It was around midnight or so, but Sasuke's body was still operating in Land of Fire time and thought it was sometime around five in the afternoon.

It was just as well; he had to find extra clothing, a suitable place for shelter, a reliable food source, and a library where he could start learning the tongue spoken here. And he had to do it without anyone noticing him.

' _Definitely a few all-nighters ahead of me.'_

* * *

AN: So, there's chapter 3.

Who thought I would have Sasuke go straight to Beacon after meeting Ruby in the last chapter? For anyone who said yes, too bad for you! I don't feel like going down a road that predictable.

I never considered it before I started writing this chapter, but my God it's next to impossible to write any dialogue for Ruby without adding an exclamation at the end. Between her natural high-pitch voice and general excitement it was hard to find an occasion to end any of her sentences with a normal period.

Also, if anyone thinks Ruby seems out of character here feel free to rip me for it. It was really difficult for me to stay 'in character' when writing things in her perspective for me because her personality is much further from mine than Sasuke's, so it wouldn't surprise me if she's a bit OOC here from someone else's perspective.

As for the translation for what Sasuke says to Taiyang when Ruby tells him to speak, I'm not giving it to you. First reason for doing so is that I'm not sure if my translation is exactly correct, so what I wrote down is probably wrong to one degree or another anyway. The other reason is to give the reader a more first-person perspective. Ruby and Tai don't know what Sasuke is saying here, and neither do you!

Read and review, let me know what you think!


	4. Stacking the Odds

AN: So this one took a bit longer to make. Not gonna lie, this one was just not as interesting to write as the first three chapters. Making original content takes more time and effort than reading from a script and injecting a few bits of dialogue as well.

I have taken several reviews criticizing a few inconsistencies to heart and have gone back and changed a few words here and there to fix them.

Got my first flamer, I'm so proud of myself!

Quick point I need to make before I continue. A lot of you have been making comments about how Genjutsu should still work because Kaguya was able to use it against people with no chakra at all and that I only did this to nerf Sasuke. That is NOT the case. It does nerf him, but that is only a side effect. There is a **reason** he can't use standard Genjutsu against the people of Remnant that will become apparent later in the story. I am well aware this is not how things would go in canon- but this **is not** canon. This is a fanfiction, and it wouldn't be a fanfiction if I followed all of the canon events and physics down to the letter. Suffice it to say this will be a plot hole large enough to sink the Titanic if it's not written this way. Keep this chapter in mind- when I point this out later I will refer back to this chapter and say, "I told you so."

Also, I changed the English language description to Valerian. Kind of a small detail, but those of you who pointed that out make a good case.

Iskandar Hero- please refer to the AN at the end of the chapter.

AC3Rarin- Yeah, I saw that profile. For someone who got pissed at my first author's note he did a damn good job of proving my point.

ThE 4SsAsSiN 21- Thanks for the review. I'm definitely going for the not cliché angle. You should be getting at least a hint of that in this chapter.

LordAzreal1- I share your opinion that an author changing events or details of a story without explanation is incredibly frustrating. I'll try my best to avoid that, so don't be afraid to call me out if you think something doesn't make sense. It might be something I knowingly changed like the Genjutsu argument above, but maybe it's something I overlooked.

The Predator- Once again, a reviewer calling me out for my screw-up. I shouldn't have overlooked that, thanks for mentioning it.

Objectivenumber1- I overdid that scene a bit, good point on your end.

blankdead- Thank you once again for the positive feedback! You'd be surprised how much that means to me when I'm summoning the motivation to write.

Danish78- You'll just have to keep reading to see if that's where I take this.

Croniklerx- Don't know how I misnamed Hebi there. Dear God that was embarrassing to see… fixed it. The mental snarking and smart-ass comments are a little off-character, but you have to remember these are thoughts in Sasuke's head. Everyone has been in a situation where you're emotionally upset and swearing a storm in your head but filter that out when you actually talk. Sasuke is no different- just because he doesn't talk much or show much emotion doesn't mean he doesn't have them in the privacy of his mind like the rest of us. I may have overdone it a bit, but to be fair I don't think anyone would be thinking PG thoughts if they were suddenly teleported to a parallel world with possibly no way home.

' _Thoughts'_

* * *

 **Uchiha of Remnant**

Chapter 4: Stacking the Odds

Stereotypes were abundant. Certain general trends that pertained to nationality, behavior, taste, and general lifestyle choices had been observed by all cultures since before written history began. Individuals could of course defy the stereotypes that beget their group. Sasuke Uchiha, for example, did not submit to the male stereotype of trying to bed as many women as possible. He was, however, a fully willing participant in another male stereotype- he did not like shopping. The idea of spending a minute more than was absolutely necessary to obtain a new wardrobe was as about as appealing to him as salt was to a slug.

And so it was that he spent a grand total of thirty minutes getting himself multiple sets of various clothing, not wanting to have to worry about washing any of them for several days until he could find somewhere to live. Knowing he would have to be as unassuming as possible Sasuke ignored all of the flashier styles that he knew Naruto would have picked and settled for simplicity and practicality, something that was surprisingly difficult. Choice of clothing was never that great a consideration amongst shinobi, the threat of death making fashion an afterthought.

That was clearly not the case in the rather impressive building that housed several different clothing stores he had snuck into. The sheer variety of fabrics, colors, textures, and styles was nothing short of astonishing.

' _These people clearly have too much free time on their hands.'_

Most of his choices were completely worthless: too eye-catching, not durable enough, too tight to move in, and so on. And the pants… dear God the pants. The Uchiha could have sworn on his father's grave that nine out of ten of the men's pants were so tight they had to have been designed by a woman who wanted to discreetly sterilize as many people with a scrotum as possible.

Despite these hurdles the Uchiha quickly acquired several pants on the looser end, several shirts and undershirts, boxers and socks, a belt, three vests with several pockets each, and two pairs of combat boots. It had taken a bit more time, but he had also found two hooded double-breasted coats with thigh-length tails that would allow him to carry his Kusanagi discreetly behind his back. Wanting to keep stealth as an asset the chosen items were shades of black and dark blue, though several of the lighter shirts had darker shades of purple and red as well.

The first task complete, he sealed the extra clothes away along with his original outfit save for his wrist warmers covering the seals on his left arm and exited through the roof.

Deciding to take care of his dietary needs next, the Uchiha quickly located an enormous building that contained more food than he had ever seen in a single place. Unfortunately for him the store was clearly a 24 hour one as there were still night staff present.

It wasn't enough to stop him. A simple walk up the outside wall of the building to a window he could open was all it took to get inside. And for all the staff still there, not one of them suspected a thief would walk upside down on the ceiling. Whenever an employee gazed somewhere in his direction Sasuke simply stopped moving to avoid being noticed out of the corner of their eye, dropping down to pick up what he wanted before storing it in his arm seals and jumping back to the ceiling before he was seen.

Most of the food was unfamiliar to him but he was able to recognize and take packages of beef and fish, a small assortment of vegetables, and several large bags of rice from the storage area in the back of the building along with a few pots and pans. He stopped once to pick up what appeared to be an insulated water bottle in case he needed to take an extended trip somewhere before leaving.

Finding a shelter was a more difficult undertaking. A location inside the village was out of the question until he could speak the language, so he was forced to look several miles away to find a suitable location. He did find an abandoned house that had clearly not been lived in for years, but the presence of a path leading to it meant that someone was still visiting the place regularly.

Luckily Sasuke found a small cave at the base of a large cliff that would suit his needs well. It was remote enough that he didn't need to worry about anyone finding him, and a constant breeze at the cliff's base meant any smoke from a fire would be dispersed enough that it wouldn't be visible from a long distance. In addition, there was a small stream a short walk away for water as well as a slight upward slope to the ground that meant any heat would rise up and stay inside.

Sasuke still had a few hours of night left to make use of, performing a U-turn back to town after removing some excess forest litter and rocks from his temporary abode.

The local library was quickly discovered after a discreet stroll through what little downtown there was. There may not have been any security measures besides a locked door, but it didn't stop the Uchiha from looking over his shoulder as he entered.

He was planning on temporarily borrowing a few items, but his real concern was that he would be caught stealing several 'learning to read' books that were clearly meant for toddlers. He vowed that he would do everything in his power to take this moment to his grave - his pride would never recover if anyone he knew found out about this.

Sasuke was pleasantly surprised that the technology here was advanced enough for books to have a kind of 'read-a-long' feature with audio that matched the text, something he did not hesitate to pick up.

' _A very useful application for whatever audio technology they developed here. I should be able to learn this new alphabet quickly.'_

After 'borrowing' a few relatively more advanced books so he wouldn't have to return to the library too often the Uchiha made his way back to the cave with about an hour of night to spare.

With the Sharingan blazing, Sasuke did not hesitate to start playing the sing-along story of what was apparently a very hungry caterpillar, matching symbols on the page with the different sounds heard from the audio. Slowly but surely the linguistic code began to reveal itself. After going through several books multiple times over the course of two hours the Uchiha had a basic grasp on how to read and speak, only really needing to figure out a few inconsistencies regarding pronunciation, several words that were spelled differently but pronounced exactly the same, and to confirm several unusual sounds that appeared to be digraphs.

' _Should still fully comprehend it quickly at this rate.'_

It was just as well- after the impromptu journey to this strange world, the mentally strain of being completely isolated from anything familiar with the exceptions of his summons, and cracking an entirely new language that had seemingly been overzealously filled with loopholes and exceptions to every rule, Sasuke was tired.

Deciding he had made enough progress, Sasuke put the book titled The Cat in the Hat away before deciding to indulge in his brain's desire for slumber.

* * *

The Uchiha awoke to the sound of heavy breathing the next morning before sensing a wall of fur-covered flesh on either side of him. Fight-or-flight instinct took over immediately, and he jumped up with his sword in hand and his Sharingan activated.

He had to blink his eyes several times to convince himself what he was seeing was real- five individuals of whatever species of black wolves he had encountered yesterday were all lying next to where he had been sleeping along with what appeared to be a black bear of similar appearance.

' _What in the world?'_

The creatures had certainly been resting, but a lack of yawning or any sign of weariness suggested they had not been sleeping. Still it was rather curious they had all decided to lie down next to him, and how had they even found him?

The bear and wolves all rose up upon sensing Sasuke was no longer asleep but did not make any hostile moves. A quick glance at his supplies revealed they had not taken or eaten anything, nothing had even been touched. They were just… staring at him.

Even if he wasn't in any danger from them it was a little unnerving if he were being honest.

' _What are these things doing? They are carnivorous, but they would have tried to attack and kill me already if they had wanted to eat me.'_

The response of these creatures to his presence was puzzling; they had tried to kill Ruby last night to either eat her or because they saw her as a threat to their territory. So why were these things not treating him in the same way?

' _Can these creatures sense I'm not a regular human?'_

If that was the case it did not bode well for him. Assuming these creatures were normally hostile toward people he would stick out like a sore thumb if someone saw him sleeping next to these things.

Fortunately, he wouldn't have to kill them to avoid such a scenario as all six of the creatures began to file out of the cave as though nothing had happened. That suited Sasuke just fine- as long as they didn't hinder or draw any attention to him there was no need to pick fights with them.

It was at that point the Uchiha furrowed his eyes in confusion as he deactivated his bloodline. Something felt _off_. He couldn't pinpoint it right away, but there was a feeling gnawing at the back of his mind that all was not as it should be.

' _Those creatures didn't take or eat anything, all of my supplies are accounted for, there are no people around watching me'_ he pondered. A quick check of his person confirmed what Sasuke had assumed before- none of the creatures had harmed him or done anything to his body or clothing.

' _So what is it? Nothing has changed, even my chakra levels are almost exactly the sa-'_

At that point his eyes widened in shock- his chakra levels were only slightly higher than they were when he went to sleep; **that** was the problem.

He had used a modest amount summoning Garuda and Aoda the night before as well as a metaphorical drop's worth when he used his Chidori Katana to kill that first wolf when he had helped Ruby. Of that quantity he had used, his body normally would have replenished almost all of it during the roughly ten hours that had passed.

That was not the case. He had recovered only a bit over an eighth of what he had used; a pitiful quantity compared to his total reserves.

' _My position here is even worse than I thought'_ the Uchiha stressed, fists clenching in frustration. ' _Even if I am the strongest around it won't mean much in the long run if I exhaust my power in battle or with a faulty reverse summoning. If that happens it won't be difficult for me to be killed or captured before I recover.'_

It meant he would be effectively crippled unless he was in a life-threatening situation. All of his jutsu, his Sharingan, and his summonings were going to have to be off-limits. The Curse Mark and all of its abilities fell under this category as well, and a breath of relief was exhaled when Sasuke confirmed Orochimaru was still securely imprisoned. Worrying about the Sannin escaping was not something he wanted to burden himself with here.

Taijutsu, kenjutsu, Kirin, his kunai and shuriken were going to be his only real weapons. He had also practiced the tree-walking exercise enough that it could be performed with perfect efficiency without wasting any chakra, so that would still be available to use.

Using his chakra to enhance his physical strength was also still possible, though it would have to be toned down to avoid wasting any. All shinobi could multiply their strength with their chakra to varying degrees depending on their chakra quantity and control, but it was common knowledge that the more power was used to amplify one's strength the less efficient the process was. This wasn't a problem for Shinobi such as Tsunade or Sakura who had flawless chakra control, but he was not at that level of skill. His control was certainly excellent, but it was not perfect.

It was anything but an ideal situation, but it appeared he would just have to make do.

' _With my Sharingan off-limits, I don't have any time to waste getting back to reading'_. It would take longer to become bilingual without his bloodline, and that wasn't even the end of it. He still had to research the geography, history, and general information of this world to find a good place to hide in plain sight. Hopefully with his progress from the previous night it wouldn't take him too long.

With that Sasuke decided to first satiate his thirst from the nearby stream before making a crude breakfast and continuing his books.

He had to fight the urge to grit his teeth when he saw the five black wolves and bear from earlier standing mere feet from the cave's entrance. Though they were now joined by almost two dozen more of the same black wolves and what appeared to be a horse-sized scorpion of the same nature covered by an incomplete bone-like exoskeleton.

All of the creatures were facing him and staring, but like before did not make any further moves; hostile or otherwise.

' _Annoying'_ the Uchiha thought to himself before pointedly ignoring them to fill his water bottle. He was mildly curious as to what these things were and thought it a good idea to at least find some kind of information about them considering their unusual response to his presence.

' _I can't spend too much time thinking about these creatures. Find out basic information and move on. It's not my world, so they're not my problem.'_

* * *

Feet too quick for civilian eyes to follow made a path across the snow-covered rooftops of Patch as the last rays of sunlight disappeared over the horizon. The pace of movement was perhaps faster than was necessary to reach the airport in time for an airship bound to Vale to leave, but Sasuke had spent a total of four days either reading in a cave or making discreet trips to town for more reading material or food. He was ready to leave.

' _Not a moment too soon. I would have been discovered before long at the rate Grimm decided to visit.'_

The Grimm, as the black creatures he had seen were called, had continued their passive observation of him during the duration of his stay at the cave. More had gradually accumulated around his cave until by the time he left the number of Grimm surrounding his temporary abode had reached and passed the triple digits. Their attraction to negative emotions flawlessly explained why they flocked to him, but according to every piece of literature he could find on them they attacked humans on sight whenever they had the chance without exception. His previous hypothesis that he would be painted as a target if it was discovered Grimm were more merciful toward him was confirmed; and now that he could speak the same tongue as everyone else it was high time he left for a more populated area where there would be no Grimm to betray him.

After learning this world's basic geography the only real place that made sense to go was the city of Vale. It would be the quickest to reach and had enough people moving in from other territories that his arrival would likely go unnoticed.

The idea had crossed his mind to pickpocket enough of the local Lien currency to pay for a formal ticket, but in this case it would be better to stow away with no one the wiser. If his arrival was undocumented it would make it all the easier to cover his tracks when he arrived.

A flash of bright red in the corner of his eye briefly caught his attention enough to avert his gaze.

' _Ruby?'_

She was turned away from him, but the familiar red cloak could belong to no one else. Sasuke halted his journey to the docks upon seeing the girl place a sheet of paper with what looked like a very crude drawing of him on a street lamp.

' _A missing person poster; why would she bother with that? Wasn't the kunai I left a good enough hint?'_

The Uchiha was honestly puzzled as to why it seemed she hadn't gotten the message. Even if she hadn't figured it out he had thought her father would. And she saw first-hand he was more than capable of handling himself and shared no blood or community with him. So why was she going to such lengths to find him?

Ruby turned around abruptly to face a middle-aged woman coming from the other direction, revealing a face that had lost all traces of mirth and curiosity that it had held when he had last seen it. Etched into her face now were concern and anxiety as Sasuke eavesdropped on the now decipherable words leaving Ruby's mouth.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Parks? I'm sorry to bother you but have you seen this guy? He left my house four days ago without telling anyone."

"I'm sorry Ruby, but I can't say I have. Do you know where he could have gone?"

"Well, not really… You see he can't speak Valerian, so there was no real way to ask him where he was from or anything like that. He helped me fight some Grimm when I was visiting Mom, but he doesn't have any winter clothing and doesn't know anyone here."

Sasuke may have been across the street, but his hearing was good enough despite the audible winter wind to pick out Ruby's genuine emotion and concern. There was a very slight tremble in her voice, further betraying her distress. And judging from the way she was fidgeting her hands it was more than likely she would have been clasping them close to her chest in concern if she was not using them to carry more of the posters she had likely made herself.

' _If I had done something like this when I was six I could see Mother behaving this way. But we met once and spent a grand total of less than three hours together. Why would she care this much about finding me?'_

He had half a mind to just leave and put this whole island and everyone on it behind him, but a slightly larger part of him was for some reason curious about Ruby's motives.

"Well that certainly makes things more difficult" the older woman replied. "Ruby… I don't know if you've thought of this already, but have you considered this young man may be on the run or part of some illegal activity?"

"Wh-what?" silver eyes widened in comprehension before retorting, "That can't be! He helped me fight off Grimm and had dinner with me and Dad and was really polite and everything! And he didn't steal anything- me and Dad checked the whole house the morning after he left and nothing was gone!"

"Calm down dear, I'm not saying he's a criminal. I'm just suggesting that it's a possibility you may need to consider. It is rather suspicious he would leave so suddenly if he has no friends or family here unless he had something to hide." the woman said. "Look, you're probably right that there's nothing to worry about, and I'll make sure to ask around if anyone has heard anything."

"Thank you, Mrs. Parks! That means a lot." Ruby replied, a small smile on her face now.

"You shouldn't spend too much more time out here dear, a winter's night won't do you any favors" the woman suggested before resuming her walk to her destination.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!"

Ruby had scarcely turned around before the small smile fell off and returned to a disappointed frown. She re-adjusted her hood before beginning to walk across the street, presumably to place another poster.

Sasuke was a prodigy and was used to comprehending things he had seen and heard about very quickly. Ruby Rose's actions here were not among them. He turned around and continued his journey to the docks, though not without confusing thoughts of the girl's actions processing through his mind.

' _There is no reason for her to be so concerned, why is she going to such lengths at her own expense on my behalf?'_

And it was at her expense- the small shivers racking her body beneath her cloak as well as the unhealthy pale color of the skin on her hands and face that were exposed to the biting cold were proof enough of that.

There had to be some kind of powerful motive driving her to such measures, though the Uchiha was at a loss for what it could be.

Sasuke had learned many uncomfortable truths in his short life, and one of them was that anyone who wanted to help someone had some kind of self-centered motive for doing so.

The only reason Orochimaru trained him was because he wanted a body with the Sharingan to transfer to. The only reason Kabuto pretended to befriend his team in the Chunin Exams was because he needed to keep tabs on him for Orochimaru. The only reason Sakura or Ino wanted to please him was that they wanted to be in a romantic relationship with him they could fulfill their emotional desires with (why they couldn't have chosen someone other than him was another question he had yet to answer). The only reason the shopkeepers and ordinary citizens of Konoha treated him with more respect than his classmates and constantly tried to get on his good side was because they knew he would be the default head of the Uchiha Clan when he came of age and when he married and began to rebuild his family.

At first glance his squad-mates of Team Seven seemed to be an exception, but on closer inspection even they had selfish motives.

Sakura's motive was simple enough. She had a crush on him, and defecting to Orochimaru was dangerous enough to endanger his life and he would be separated from her. Any microscopic hope she had of developing some relationship with him would not be possible with him as a missing-nin. It was why she had not outright condemned him for seeking revenge but had instead offered to leave with him.

Naruto had been alone his whole life and was desperately wanting to feel appreciated and needed by those around him. Sasuke was one of the first people who had bonded with him in such a way (although both recognized it was something that went without saying and was never to be openly discussed), and Naruto had predictably not wanted that bond to end. Sasuke leaving and said bond being broken meant Naruto was one more step toward the social outcast that he was before.

It was understandable, Sasuke honestly did sympathize. But that didn't change the fact that what Itachi had done was personal.

He couldn't just move on, not without paying Itachi his due for his crimes. And it wasn't as though Naruto had no experience with such a perspective. The people of Konoha's hatred of the Nine-Tails ran deep more than a decade after its rampage had sent hundreds of people to an early grave and had been readily extended to its Jinchuuriki host. Naruto of all people should have known that such hatred and desire for vengeance did not just vanish because people who had it were better off without it.

And Kakashi… Sasuke had a serious bone to pick with him.

Kakashi had lost almost all of his teammates already and was still feeling the shame and guilt years later if his hours of standing in front of the Konoha KIA memorial were anything to go by. The Copy Ninja had not tried to talk Sasuke off of his path for vengeance out of care, but out of the desire to avoid any further shame on his part.

He had found that out when he had heard of Team Ten's attempt to sneak out of Konoha without authorization to try and kill the Akatsuki members who had murdered Asuma.

There had been no lecture about how wrong vengeance was from Kakashi on that occasion from what he had heard. Nor from the Hokage, nor from ANYONE in Konoha. They had simply shrugged their shoulders, told Team Ten they understood their feelings, should have asked them for help first, and sent them on their way.

When Sasuke had heard of that, he had been _**furious**_. Konoha and everyone in it who had a say in the matter had done everything in their power to stop his quest to kill Itachi. He had far greater reasons to justify his desire for revenge than Team Ten ever did; yet the powers that be had given them an encouraging push out the door for their vengeance quest without a second thought. Kakashi had helped Team Ten even their score without any complaint yet had done nothing but lecture him about how he should just 'let it go' because he would only 'find emptiness inside'.

If Konoha, or even just the members of his team had shown half the support Team Ten had been shown there was no way he would have left.

Orochimaru was a dangerous man and a morally disgusting one; it was hardly an optimal choice for him.

He had taken the risk to go to the Sannin, and as far as Sasuke was concerned Konoha had only themselves to blame.

Konoha had every reason to help him become strong enough to kill Itachi. He was one of the greatest traitors to the village in its history, and his tactical mind and unparalleled prowess in Genjutsu made him an enemy few would willingly face.

But Sasuke did. And his Sharingan meant he had a countermeasure for Itachi's Genjutsu that would normally be capable of placing entire squads in comas before they could blink. He was one of the best ways the village could take Itachi out; both capable of doing it and willing to take the risk.

Konoha had thrown that opportunity in the trash without a second thought.

They could have easily trained him more, knowing that he would willingly hunt down one of the village's greatest traitors to ever live. He could have graduated from the Academy three or four years before he actually did and advance to new heights that he had been ready to climb to.

Instead he had been stuck with his age group listening to information he already knew and being taught skills he already had because of bureaucratic fools who wouldn't know a good opportunity if it stared them in the face.

As far as he could tell Ruby had no reason to have any of these motivations.

The only explanation that was left was that she cared enough about his wellbeing out of genuine kindness to try and make sure he was safe.

' _Ridiculous.'_

The world was not that kind- no one was.

The only exception to this were his family. They had loved him unconditionally, even if his Father had never said it out loud.

Ruby was **not** in the same category. The mere thought that she may had similar levels of unreciprocated concern for him as his deceased family was nothing short of blasphemous.

There had to be another reason. Perhaps she had personally failed someone she cared about before and this was some roundabout atonement to protect lives after she had been unsuccessful.

' _It doesn't matter anyway. I'll never see her again.'_

* * *

The Uchiha leapt across the small fence that represented the last barrier to his destination- a small freighter airship bound for Vale.

One leap upward was enough to flawlessly placed himself discreetly underneath the corner of one of the wings, a place that a population of people who had no reason to look for stowaways who could stick themselves to the underside of surfaces would think to look.

Sasuke did not mind traveling by air with the wind on his face. Flying either with his Curse Mark or with Garuda was something he genuinely enjoyed and was one of the only activities Sasuke could honestly say he even considered fun.

The range of movement, the _freedom_ to move in any dimension as he wished, the unsurpassed view he had on the world below, the feeling of supremacy as an exception to the people and creatures who did not share the gift of flight that were kept earthbound by gravity's universal embrace. It was one of the most euphoric activities he had had the privilege of experiencing.

That being said, he was not looking forward to this journey. He could ignore the below freezing temperatures and the flight-intensified wind chill, but Sasuke had no doubts his ears would have a hard time forgiving him for the level of noise they were about to experience.

Not that he wouldn't endure it. He had gone through a lot to reach his goal, and he wasn't going to quit now. And even as the engines of the airship began to lift them into the air and the magnitude of the sound and accompanying vibrations rattled his head, Sasuke did not waste a minute going through all of the information he had read on the city of Vale and what his next move would be.

No longer worrying about been seen, the Uchiha twisted his body over the front of the wing to sit on the top of the aircraft for a better view. The Sun had set almost completely behind him, and in his front was the star-speckled sky of a cloudless and clear winter night as he flew toward the Kingdom of Vale.

It was an appropriate metaphor. Sasuke had left the world he was born in and was now flying toward the dark unknown of this alien land.

Even as the wind resistance grew to the point it took effort from his abdominal muscles to prevent his head and torso from being blown backward, Sasuke did not bend.

He was not going to yield.

He was not going to fail.

* * *

AN: So a bit more set-up before the story proper with a bit of character thrown in. A bit on the shorter end, but this was the most graceful place to stop.

As for Sasuke's clothing I took a suggestion from Iskandar Hero and gave him the basic outfit of Nero from Devil May Cry. I'll admit flat out that clothing and fashion is extremely boring to me and if it wasn't for that suggestion I probably would have half-assed it and continued to writing the more interesting parts.

For those of you thinking that Sasuke not recovering his chakra is a deliberate nerf- you are half right. But I will inform you now that this detail of the story falls under the same category as Sasuke's inability to use Genjutsu on people in Remnant. There is a plot-related reason for it.


	5. First Wave

AN: So, finally finished! Took me a while, but I have a good excuse: I went to Six Flags.

I'm glad to hear my pseudo-nerfing of Sasuke was well-received; couldn't exactly have him running around Remnant with nothing holding him back. For anyone who still thinks that I should have had Sasuke keep his full power and abilities, let me pose you a quick battle scenario.

Let's take Chunin Exams 12 or 13-year old Sasuke, the version that's trained with Kakashi and learned the Chidori. Of all the jutsu and techniques he knows, let's just take the Substitution Justu and the Chidori into consideration.

The best strategy for using these two abilities together is simple: make a substitution, the enemy is distracted and attacks the fake, and Sasuke launches a sneak attack Chidori from behind to pierce the target's heart. Simple and well within his capabilities.

Now, who exactly on Remnant could either survive the attack or have senses superb enough to reliably detect and avoid it? Salem. That's it. Literally every other character we have seen or heard about in RWBY would be dead from this. It's fairly obvious from the effectiveness of Emerald's semblance that illusions are not too common a problem in remnant and pretty much everyone is easily fooled; not seeing why the Substitution Jutsu wouldn't be similarly effective. And if Ozpin, the guy with thousands of years of time to develop his reflexes, didn't have the senses necessary to detect Cinder before she shot and killed Amber, I don't see why anyone else would.

So there you go. Chunin Exam Sasuke could kill pretty much any RWBY character other than Salem in a one-on-one battle with only two of his jutsu.

And people want me to put Hebi Sasuke in Remnant with no restrictions at the beginning of the story before his boots touch the ground? I may as well replace Sasuke with Saitama while I'm at it.

I will admit a good part of Sasuke's rant about Team Ten's revenge hypocrisy came straight from yours truly. It was a wonderful opportunity to have Naruto, Team Ten, and the rest of the rookies actually be placed at least partially in Sasuke's shoes. Feel the pain of loss, the need for vengeance at any cost, and be denied that by their superiors for pragmatic reasons. It could have been written so well; Sasuke's classmates could have actually sympathized with his predicament a bit and brought a lot of character development. But no. Nothing came out of it.

And it didn't even make sense. If a few members of any random real country's military disobeyed standing orders to hunt for the enemies that killed one of their own for personal satisfaction, they would be court marshalled in the best-case scenario and plenty of places would have had them shot. Whole thing was bullshit…

And for those who called me out that I forgot the Naruto verse has TV's- good for you. They're seen so rarely I guess it slipped my mind. Fixed it.

LordAzrael1- An omake huh? I do have a few other ideas in mind for more slice of life kind of stuff, but I'll definitely work in more Grimm interactions later on.

Danish78- Yeah, Sasuke lost the concept the someone having genuine, unselfishly motivated care or concern for someone else. A character flaw, one that would be so interesting to see him get over! Wink, wink.

The Baz- Kind of a depressing pep talk, but I can't deny you hit the nail on the head. Thanks for the support!

Fanfictions4ever- Oh my God! Someone actually remembered the first chapter! Not going to give spoilers, but I put **all** of those scenes in there for a reason.

AzazelTheFallen- A valid point, but I haven't forgotten that the Curse Mark uses Nature energy. Aoda even said in Chapter 2 that he sensed that Nature energy was even rarer on Remnant than in their home world. Let's just say obtaining it on Remnant is a little… more difficult.

Iskandar Hero- Thanks for the suggestion and the support!

EvsVsz- Preach to the choir. It always amazed me how Naruto getting 90% of the screen time made people somehow forget that other characters had arguably worse childhoods. But no, It's Naruto that gets all the sympathy. Not Kakashi, not Sasuke, not Itachi, not Gaara, not Nagato, not Neji, not Iruka, not the _thousands_ of orphans from the Kyuubi attack or the numerous wars and smaller conflicts. No, it's Naruto. Every. Single. Time.

Shattering- Just because he's put in a situation he prefers not to use his bigger techniques doesn't mean he _can't_.

ObjectiveNumber1- The point you made that Sasuke shouldn't disregard his bond with Naruto is spot-on. The problem is he has not yet matured enough as a character to acknowledge that. That particular section I wrote wasn't my opinion, it was what I believed Sasuke's would be. And it's a wrong opinion because Sasuke is a human and not perfect. It's the same reason he came to the wrong conclusion about Ruby- after the massacre he lost the belief that people could have genuinely selfless bonds and feelings for one another.

KnightofZaku- The contrast between Sasuke and Ruby is definitely a part I am looking forward to writing.

Croniklerx- Damn man, you didn't hold back with your review! I like it, please do it again! The long ones are almost always interesting to read. Most of the points you made can be summed up by the phrase "you'll have to wait and see." Maybe I will make a cute Grimm scene or something though. It will be a while before I get to it, but I'll work it in.

blankdead- Thank you so much for the consistent support! This chapter has a bit less build-up and more plot, so let's see how you like it.

Timothy Burr- Damn, it has been a while since you last reviewed. Thanks for returning! Some good words of wisdom you gave me too. As for the next chapter, it will be coming out sometime between next Friday and 315,360,000 seconds from now. You get a cookie if you can tell me how much time that is without using a calculator.

' _thoughts'_

* * *

 **Uchiha of Remnant**

Chapter 5: First Wave

"Bro, you mind hooking me up?"

"Logan, you took a hit two fucking hours ago," an annoyed voice belonging to a skinny young man with a rather worn jacket said, pausing his task of inhaling from a freshly-lit bong. "Leave some for the rest of us!"

The now named Logan stepped away from the tree he had pinned a rather shapely girl with vivid purple hair in an intense make-out session a few moments before. Behind him were almost two dozen other people hanging out together in an isolated section of a snow-covered park where no-one would see them pass around a few bongs or needles.

"It's not for me Josh, it's for Violet" he replied, upset that his friend was not as willing to part from the needles in his possession as he would like. "Come on, if you get on her good side I'm sure she has a friend she can introduce you to. With as much of the good stuff you get, it should be easy to find one or two bitches willing to suck yo-"

His sentence was cut off by an almost thunderous crack as one of the thicker lower branches was snapped off by the sudden force of a large object hitting it at speed. A split second later the object continued its trajectory through the branch to impact the trunk, creating a small impact crater on the bark and tilting the entire tree several inches.

Those present didn't have any time to identify the unknown object as a person before the intruder sprang from his crouching position on the tree toward Logan and threw a consciousness-stealing punch to his head. The attacker shifted direction on a dime, knocking out seven more of the larger males of their group before those remaining had drawn guns and pocket knives when they realized they were being attacked.

It only took Josh another second after drawing his switchblade to question whether the person attacking them was even human. He had seen Huntsmen in action before when he had been passing through a rural village during a Grimm attack, but even their superhuman movements fell short of what he was seeing. For all intents and purposes, all he was seeing was a blur.

The attacker's movements did seem faster than what he had seen from the Huntsmen, but that wasn't what set him apart. There was a grace to his movements that simply couldn't be explained by ordinary mechanics or laws of physics. He accelerated and switched directions instantly with no stopping and without any visible effort, somehow ignoring all three Laws of Motion.

Knives were removed from their owner's hands in the blink of an eye regardless of the tight adrenaline-fueled grip of the hands that wielded them. That or they were rendered useless when their owners were knocked unconscious.

The few present with guns didn't fare any better. Their attacker prioritized targeting anyone with a firearm as soon as the weapon became visible as they drew it. Only two managed to draw their guns and begin firing at him.

Not one of the bullets found their mark. The attacker weaved and bobbed around the line of fire of both guns without effort before knocking both shooters out with an elbow and a foot to their respective skulls.

A half-second later and two more of the group were knocked out. Josh barely had time to realize that he was the only one with a drawn weapon left standing before a pale fist suddenly appeared in front of his face. No more thoughts passed through his mind as his consciousness was lost before the pain of the blow could be felt.

* * *

 _One minute earlier:_

Sasuke looked down onto the specks and points of light shining from the city of Vale below him. He had spent almost two hours on top of the aircraft on the flight over and was ready to get the journey over with. Plenty of time had been spent going over what he would do once he landed, and there was no shortage of factors to consider.

Obtaining an electronic device known as a scroll was going to be one of the first things on his to-do-list. From what he had seen and read this technological manifestation of electronics and miniaturization was central to everyday life for all citizens of every kingdom and walk of life. More importantly, it was one of the most commonly used means of identifying someone. On Patch he had even seen cashiers checking the scrolls of their customers to verify their age when they bought alcohol.

He was going to need a scroll or some other formal identification to rent an apartment. There were options for those who did not have a scroll for whatever reason, but it would involve either a genetically proven family member or the Department of Health and Human Services vouching for him. Needless to say, neither was an option. And due to the internal navigator, any scroll he stole would be quickly tracked.

He would have to steal a scroll, preferably from someone on the wrong side of the law who would have more to lose than to gain by reporting him to the police.

And unless he was mistaken there was a small group of such people in a park several thousand feet below him. Even without the Sharingan he could tell the group in question had no reason to be in such an isolated location at this hour of the night unless they didn't want to be found.

He was in luck- the aircraft's path would take him almost directly above them in a few seconds. All he had to do was time the jump and aim his body to land right on top of them.

" _Good thing I noticed them when I did- any more time and I would have missed my chance."_

Sasuke wasted no more time and jumped off the plane more than three thousand feet above the ground. Most people would describe what was essentially a parachute-less skydive as incredibly cool or badass. But for Sasuke it was both convenient and easy. There was no need to worry about the fall, reinforcing his body with chakra would prevent any serious injury unless he landed headfirst and snapped his neck. If he landed on his feet the worst he would feel would be moderately numb legs for a few minutes.

' _And I don't have to worry about being seen by anyone at the airport when the airship lands this way either.'_

A quick fifteen-second fall was all it took to close the distance between him and his target. A low-level gust did blow him slightly off course into a large tree a few feet from his intended landing site, but a simple crouching motion during his impact was enough to comfortably absorb the force of the impact.

A single glance of the startled group surrounding him confirmed his earlier suspicions. The bong being passed around was made of different materials than he was familiar with, but he had seen enough drug users during his time with Orochimaru to recognize it for what it was. And anyone who was not wearing a uniform in a hospital had no legal reason to be injecting substances intravenously in the middle of a park.

' _This group should have more than enough lien and scrolls to take to give me a decent start in Vale, and they won't go to the police with the drugs they have in their system.'_

Before the branch he had torn off the tree from the impact had hit the earth, he sprang toward the largest member of the group and struck him with a punch that ensured his target would hit the ground and not get up anytime soon. He had to hold back a lot of power- his goal was to make his opponents loose consciousness, not explode their heads into a biomass-based shower of bloody confetti.

The Uchiha managed to knock out four more of his opponents before those remaining managed to draw their weapons. He wasn't worried about the knives. Dealing with bladed weapons of any kind was child's play to him and pretty much any shinobi of Chunin rank or higher.

The guns that were drawn were more of an unknown, and he therefore decided to take out every enemy with a firearm he could find first so he would not be overwhelmed. The principle behind them was simple enough to understand; in practical terms they served the same ranged attack purpose as thrown kunai or shuriken. The projectiles called bullets that they fired however, were much smaller and flew faster than the weapons most shinobi threw, depending on the type and shape of the gun as well as the ballistics of the bullet in question. This meant that any bullet he came across would be more difficult to block and dodge than the kunai and shuriken he was used to.

The two factors in his favor with firearms was that they took slightly longer to line up a shot once the weapon was drawn and that they were anything but subtle. The almost inaudible whistle of air flowing around a kunai would be the only warning the target of such a weapon would get; guns made such a loud noise that the presence and exact location of the shooter could be immediately identified on the first shot.

He had seen Ruby's sniper rifle in action and had since read about them before leaving Patch since learning such weapons were extremely common in this world. He was able to see the bullets from Ruby's gun, which he had learned was a specialized type of long-range firearm called a sniper rifle with his Sharingan, but his bloodline would be off-limits and would have to settle with his normal vision.

After taking out all but two gun-wielders before they could use their weapons, it was time to see for himself just how he measured up.

Fortunately, he seemed to be in luck. The bullets fired from these smaller handguns were far slower than the ones fired by Ruby's weapon, which was consistent with what he had read that rifles generally fired projectiles faster than the smaller handguns. They were still moderately fast and their small size did make them difficult to track with his normal vision, but even though they appeared slightly fuzzy he could still see them even in the relative darkness around them. And they were slow enough that he could dodge them as long as he was more than five or six feet away and could see them coming. Someone shooting from his blind spot would still be able to hit him assuming he was stationary or they could hit a fast-moving target.

Sasuke wasn't sure exactly how much damage the average bullet would do if it hit him; chakra did allow him to reinforce his body against attacks to a degree. Nevertheless, he had better things to do than to find out.

As it was Sasuke didn't even need to dodge any bullets, he only had to stay out of the line of fire of the remaining two opponents that still had guns. That much was something he could have pulled off when he was five. Telling where the barrel was pointed could not have been easier or more obvious and it was all too easy to evade the areas the guns were pointed. The fact that the guns were wielded by civilians with pitiful reaction time who had no chance of following the rather tame speed he was using made his job even easier.

Two hits took out both firearm wielders, and the remaining three opponents were taken out less than a second later.

Now that everyone who had been armed was lying face-down in the snow, the Uchiha slowly turned toward the few people remaining who were unarmed that were slowly coming to terms with what had just happened.

Violet was one of the few of the group that was still standing. Moments ago she and twenty-one others were enjoying each other's company and the wonderful substances that had been distributed between them. Five seconds later she found herself staring at a half-destroyed tree and nineteen of her friends and acquaintances lying unconscious on the ground and staring in motionless shock at the one responsible.

He was attractive, unbelievably so. His face had exotic features that held an emotionless stare that made her feel like a bug someone was debating whether or not to crush.

In ordinary circumstances she would have referred to the teenager standing in front of her as a mere boy. He was younger than anyone in her group, in his late teens or very early twenties if she was to guess. She had been hit on by plenty of older high-school teens before, and all of them shared the same baseless confidence and inexperience common with their age group that made her reject their advances in a heartbeat. It had never ceased to amuse her seeing the deer-in-the-headlights look on their faces when she sent them packing or when an older guy trying to get her attention came along and effortlessly one-upped them.

That situation was completely reversed here. He was the one in control holding the cards, and she was the one who was in over her head.

"I have a question for you, girl. And I would appreciate it if you answered it truthfully and quickly."

It was not a question; it was a demand.

He spoke with an undeniably foreign accent that she couldn't identify. He didn't speak quickly or slowly; it was in a smooth, nonchalant manner. His words combined with his appearance were somehow able to make her feel relaxed, sexually excited, and utterly terrified all at once.

"Where can I find someone capable of reprogramming your friend's scrolls and removing their tracking system?"

His words made no sense to Violet for a few seconds until she tore her eyes away from his face to his hands. In between both of his hands there were three scrolls and sizeable wads of lien. Her eyes widened in amazement upon realizing that during the maelstrom earlier he had somehow managed to steal what looked like all of the lien his victims had as well as three of their scrolls.

"Th-there's a guy called Eddie down on Eleventh Street who does that. And with e-enough lien he doesn't ask questions."

An involuntary shudder went through her body as the teen started taking slow and deliberate steps toward her.

"Take me to him."

"Wh-what?" she exclaimed, desperately hoping she had heard wrong. Her remaining friends who had not been attacked had abandoned her when it became clear she was the only one he was questioning. They were currently running as fast as they could toward the city, leaving her all by herself.

Real terror began to set in as she realized he could kill her before she could even take a breath if he wanted to. Violet's fight-or-flight instincts screaming at her to turn and run were directly conflicting with her knowledge that running would do her no good.

"You know what I said. Do not waste my time. If you've been lying to me so you can help your friends," his tone taking a stern note "you will be there to explain to me why you thought you could get away with it."

The blood in her veins chose that moment to freeze. He was standing less than a foot away from her now, and she could have sworn his onyx eyes were seeing right through her own pupils and examining the contents of the brain behind it. She hadn't been lying, but there was no doubt in her mind that if she had she would have lost her nerve and confessed her deceit at that moment.

For the first time in her life, Violet was owned. It was not an opinion or an emotion she felt, it was a fact. This stranger could take her life at a moment's notice if she displeased him, and there was no way out of it until he decided to let her go. Even if she tried to call for help, there was no doubt he would be able to snap her neck before she could finish a sentence.

Holding back tears of fear and swallowing the lump in her throat, she murmured an almost inaudible "Follow me" before leading this monster in human form to his destination.

* * *

' _It's been two hours since I arrived in Vale. All things considered I'm making good time.'_

The purple-haired woman he had 'persuaded' to help him had kept good on her word. He had just enough lien to pay Eddie for the job he wanted. He was unfamiliar with the technical details of scrolls, so Sasuke decided to have him put together a new one from the different parts of the three he brought with him (with the tracking feature removed for an extra price) to minimize the chances of someone locating him if they tried to trace one of the scrolls he took. Just to be sure his new scroll that was essentially an illegal collage couldn't be identified he had Eddie add a dark blue cover that set it apart from the more commonly-used white theme that the ones he had stolen had.

He would worry about the basic details of how to use his scroll later; he had just enough lien to also pay for a fake identity to be implanted on the device. It wouldn't hold up under serious scrutiny, but if he didn't draw attention to himself it wouldn't matter.

With that task complete the next course of action was obtaining enough lien to pay for a small apartment. Unfortunately keeping off the radar meant that bounty hunting and other high-paying and high-profile illegal activity was out of the question, as were any ordinary jobs he may have qualified for. What was left was rather unassuming grunt work for any local crime bosses or businesses with plenty of under the table activity.

It wasn't going to be enough to get the down payment for a cheap apartment anytime soon, which was why Sasuke now found himself waiting with several other older, rather large men for his turn in a cage fight.

The purple-haired woman who led him to Eddie had readily divulged the location and time of the event when he had asked them where he could get a large sum of lien quickly. It was obvious she had been desperate to give him what he wanted in hopes he would be done asking her for help and set her on her way. Seeing as she hadn't lied to him so far, and she was terrified of him despite the fact he never directly threatened to kill or even hurt her, he decided to take her at her word and told her to leave.

It had been rather amusing seeing the look of disbelief that crossed her face when she heard he would let her go so easily. A simple 'get lost' after she stood in shock believing there was no way he was serious about letting her go was enough to get her to begin sprinting away from him. Normally he would have taken her with him until they had reached the location of the fight, but he decided it would be less risky if he let her go now. He hadn't told her his name, but even so he was pushing his luck with what could be considered borderline kidnapping and certainly assault if he included her companions he took out earlier. The sooner she left the better.

Underground fighting was popular in the more lawless areas of any city, and Vale was no exception. Places like this usually held events every week or two in his own world, and he had been lucky enough to arrive when this one was happening. It was a one-on-one match with the reigning champion, and anyone was free to challenge. There was a substantial reward that was enough for his short-term needs for anyone who lasted five minutes without being knocked out. The clerk had clearly not been impressed by the fact he didn't have the appearance of a 250-pound bodybuilder and didn't think he had a chance, but the Uchiha could not have cared less. It was none of his business anyway.

"Number three."

' _I'm number four, should only be a few minutes.'_

And it was unlikely the third contender would win from what Sasuke could tell. He was in his mid-twenties and well built, but a single glance at his apprehensive demeanor and unsure gait suggested he was having second thoughts now that the chips were being laid down. He was clearly someone who made the mistake believing that bulking up at the gym was all that was needed to be a good fighter.

Sasuke hadn't seen the reigning champion he would be battling tonight, but he hadn't kept his title for almost three years by being weak or inexperienced. As tempting as it was to label a simple street fighter as a weak grunt compared to a professional shinobi who had spent his childhood learning the best ways to kill people, such arrogance was not a good idea in this situation.

In order to make fights fair, there was a no-aura rule that was strictly monitored using both combatant's scrolls to ensure no one had an unfair advantage. Aura users were rare, and most of them were Hunters. Ordinary fighters simply didn't stand a chance against them.

Anyone caught using aura in the arena would instantly become a pariah; people of all walks of life in every kingdom had some recognition that Hunters had a noble and vitally important job of keeping the kingdoms safe from Grimm at the risk of their own life. Any such person caught using their time to cheat money from civilians instead was not treated kindly.

Another less culturally relevant reason for aura being prohibited was simple economics; aura users were usually Huntsmen or Huntresses or who had some kind of training thereof and were capable of much greater feats of destruction than ordinary people if they fought. It wasn't good business to have to repair and rebuild the arena every time there was a match.

Sasuke didn't have to worry about the scroll revealing his aura- he didn't have any to begin with. He had been worried the scroll would pick up some kind of reading from his chakra, but the device could not read anything from him when he tested it and was in the clear.

Still, the Uchiha would have to hold back significantly in his fight. A chakra-enhanced blow would easily kill his opponent, the last thing he wanted. He couldn't end the fight in a single blow either- even if he wasn't using aura a one-hit knockout from a random challenger would likely make them think he had cheated some other way.

He was going to have to draw the fight out a bit and probably take a hit or two to comfortably sell his performance.

"Number four."

' _He couldn't last a minute? Oh well, not my problem.'_

With that Sasuke stood up and followed his escort wordlessly through a short hall before being halted before a set of double doors.

"Just go through when they call your name and go into the ring."

The Uchiha had to resist the urge to roll his eyes _'do they think I can't figure that out on my own?'_

" **All right, our champion BoneSaw is still eager for more action after three rounds, so let's meet our next challenger!"**

Cheers and shouts of an excited crowd drowned out all other noise as the announcer called him out to the ring.

' _This place is far too noisy.'_

The surrounding crowd began to throw various insults and taunts as he swept through the doors and passed those seated on the front row. Several cheerleaders in rather revealing leather outfits were on either side of him, either taunting him or striking poses and keeping the crowd entertained. He scoffed with annoyance when one scantily-clad blonde started walking in front of him and ridiculed him that a boy whose balls hadn't dropped had no business fighting a real man.

The blonde's eyes widened in shock when Sasuke grabbed her shoulder and brushed her aside, continuing his walk to the ring as if she and the rest of the crowd were nothing more than annoying insects buzzing around him. Onyx eyes locked onto his opponent- the only person in the room that mattered.

BoneSaw was a hulking man that appeared to be in his mid-thirties with unruly red hair that almost went to his shoulders. He was almost a foot taller than Sasuke and was probably close to around 300 pounds of mostly muscle if he were to guess. He didn't seem injured from his previous bouts at all except for a small bruise on his right cheek where someone had managed to land a hit.

' _He's probably used to overwhelming opponents and ignoring most hits using his size and strength; it's about what I expected. The size of his muscles means his range of motion will be limited and his movements will be more visible and easier to predict.'_

People who weren't used to fighting and killing others often made the mistake of assuming that the larger the fighter, the stronger they were. Great size and the strength it brought certainly did make a difference in battle, but there were numerous drawbacks to such a body type. Shinobi valued lean, average-sized bodies for a reason.

Large bodies usually suffered in the speed and stamina departments. A large fighter would have to have their legs and feet support, move, and direct a 200 to 300-pound body above them; a difficult task when one had to change direction or sprint forward at a moment's notice to either avoid an attack or take advantage of an opening. A more average-sized person would have an only moderately smaller leg muscles perform the same functions for a body roughly half the size in far less time and with less effort.

In addition, muscle tissue ate energy and stamina at gluttonous rates during the strenuous, quick-paced action of a battle. It only made sense that the less muscle there was to burn through the energy reserves, the longer a combatant could last before muscle exhaustion set in and their speed and strength waned.

Sasuke planned to fight without using any chakra at all to really sell the idea he wasn't cheating even though it would mean he would not be able to match BoneSaw's raw power. With his experience though, winning would not be difficult. Without chakra his blows to his opponents' stomach and torso would probably not amount to anything, so the face and joints would be the primary targets. All he had to do was exploit his opponents' size-related weaknesses as well as what the Uchiha presumed would be overconfidence, and the match would be his.

" **Taka is our youngest contender of the night, and it looks like he's way out of his weight class! He still seems confident even after laying eyes on his rival, but he'll have to back that attitude up in the ring if he wants the prize!"**

' _Feels kind of strange having a stage name, but I can't tell them my real name in case Ruby or Taiyang hear it.'_

The Uchiha took the last step up into the arena and stood in the area the referee directed him to roughly six feet from his adversary.

"Haha! You've got guts, pretty-boy, I'll give you that much! But I think you've got the short end of the stick with your brains! How is your scrawny ass going to beat me?"

The Uchiha didn't answer- it wasn't worth wasting his breath on boasting when the final result was all that mattered.

BoneSaw's mouth formed a scowl a few seconds later when it was clear his new challenger was not going to take part in any trash talk. "The quiet type huh? Have it your way kid, not like it will change anything. That face of yours won't be so pretty once I'm through with you!"

At that point the referee decided to intervene and formally start the fight now that both combatants were in their assigned starting positions.

"This is a bare-knuckle fight. If you give up, are knocked out, or fall and can't get up before I count to ten, you lose. There will be no hitting the groin, no hitting the eyes, no biting, no spitting, no hair-pulling, no fish-hooking, no hitting when your opponent is down, no hitting or grabbing the throat, and no clothes-grabbing. You have five minutes to fight."

The referee stepped back, allowing the two combatants to get in their opening stances. For his part, Sasuke got into a rather typical boxing stance with his right fist forward and left fist held back to counter.

BoneSaw let his arrogance get the better of him and didn't even give Sasuke the courtesy of lifting his arms to ready himself, clearly not thinking the Uchiha posed any threat.

"Begin!"

The starting bell rang, and BoneSaw started taking several lazy steps forward to further mock his much smaller challenger, who did not move an inch after the fight started. A smirk on his face at the thought of an easy win against such a latent adversary, he drew his right arm back for a straight punch.

The next thing BoneSaw's eyes saw were the lights above the arena as a blindingly fast uppercut jab forced his head up. Enraged that the blow actually hurt, he ignored the throbbing pain in his chin and continued his punch where he left off.

BoneSaw had lowered his head and was half-way through the punch he initially planned before he realized Taka was no longer standing in front of him.

' _What? Where di-'_

No other thoughts could form before another hit from his right side outside his field of vision contacted his face with audible force.

The audience watched in shock as Sasuke then placed his left hand and his right leg on BoneSaw's shoulder and leg respectively before using him as a springboard to jump directly over his opponent and land on his left side.

BoneSaw had only just finished turning toward where his opponent's last punch had come from with a furious look- determined to make Taka answer dearly for his attacks, only to find no one there.

His head had barely turned to search for his missing target when Sasuke threw a powerful right overhead that forced the defending champion to stumble a step forward as his face was once again struck.

BoneSaw's anger reached new heights when he tasted the metal tang of blood in his mouth. The last hit had split his lip, and a small but still visible amount of spittle and blood fell onto the floor in front of him as proof of his injury.

He was going to have to take this fight seriously. It was clear that despite his average stature his challenger's body was pure lean muscle and was capable of generating far more force than his size would suggest. He was quick too- his footwork, agility, striking speed, and reaction time were by far the most impressive he had ever seen.

" **Whoa, whoa, will you look at this! Taka is running circles around BoneSaw and has taken first blood! It's the first time tonight our champion had been forced to bleed, and it looks like Taka is far from done! Better not underestimate him folks, he's tougher than he looks!"**

"You son of a bitch! I'm gonna-"

Whatever he was going to do was going to have to wait until after Sasuke finished breaking BoneSaw's nose with a left cross. Not done, the younger combatant followed with a quick uppercut and backed away a bit to leave a fraction of an inch distance between his face and his opponent's hasty counter jab. He brought his left arm beneath the extended limb and lifted it just enough to provide an opening on BoneSaw's unprotected flank, which was exploited by another blur of an uppercut.

" **This is unbelievable! Taka's punches are the fastest we've ever seen here, I can barely make out the blur when he attacks! BoneSaw seems to have the same problem and hasn't been able to block or avoid any hits so far!"**

Finally realizing that talking wasn't going to get him anywhere, BoneSaw advanced forward while swinging his left arm in a broad sweeping motion hoping to get his slippery adversary to duck and place his head in the perfect position for his right arm to follow through with a cross punch.

The older man smirked in anticipation as Taka did exactly that and threw his right fist forward as fast as he could so his target wouldn't have time to pull off a fancy disappearing act again.

His fist found its target, making a satisfying thud as the force of the blow threw the younger man's head back and almost threw him off his feet.

BoneSaw rushed forward to take advantage of his adversary's loss of the initiative and pay in kind the blows he had earlier suffered through. A powerful punch angled down to account for the difference in height was avoided by the raven-haired challenger, but dodging the blow put his back to the edge of the cage around the arena.

Despite the bruise that was already starting to form on his cheek from the hit as well as a slightly split lip that was starting to bleed, his foe was clearly not rattled or panicked from the blow. He still held the same neutral, indifferent expression he had shown the moment he had walked through the doors toward the arena.

" **And BoneSaw has finally landed a solid hit to Taka's face! Is he about to turn this around!?"**

With a roar of rage, the older combatant sprinted forward, pinning his left arm at his challenger's collarbone and forcing him back into the corner of the arena. Taka's upper back and head were slammed into the edge of the bars of the cage with enough force to produce a cringe-worthy ringing noise from the struck metal.

Playtime was over as far as BoneSaw was concerned, he had been humiliated enough already from a rival that he should have been able to take out in the first five seconds.

His right arm wound back and was thrown forward into his rival's gut with as much force as he could muster. BoneSaw wound his arm back again and followed with four more punches to Taka's stomach, but his target's abdomen did not yield and there was no sudden rush of air and spit from knocking the wind out of the lungs like he had hoped. Taka's muscle tone and density were so high it felt like he was punching a wall of leather-covered iron.

His left arm still pinned on Taka's collar, BoneSaw once again used it to thrust his adversary's head and back against the metal cage before following it up with a vicious haymaker to Taka's head which smashed it straight into the bars of the cage with enough force to put a small dent in the metal and create several bleeding injuries on the back of his head.

" **And BoneSaw follows up with a brutal counterattack! Taka is pinned against the cage, and it doesn't look like he'll be able to get out of it!"**

Sasuke… was bored. He had been kind enough to duck BoneSaw's clumsy arm swing earlier and give his enemy a perfect opening to punch his face to make it not so one-sided. The Uchiha had let his adversary have a bit more fun by allowing himself to be pinned to the edge of the ring and take a few blows to his face and abdomen, but if he were being honest this fight was about as interesting as watching wallpaper dry.

The only reason this felt remotely like combat was that because he wasn't using his chakra to reinforce his body, he was taking every punch and hit with raw flesh and bone. It was certainly painful, especially the sting on the back of his scalp as it met the metal cage bars, but he was nowhere near his limit. Even with his chakra handicap, the physical force Sasuke was putting behind his attacks as well as his striking speed were being held back significantly due to the earlier assumption that he would have to exhaust his opponent and drag the fight out. He could have knocked his enemy out dozens of times over by now if he had wanted to.

BoneSaw's attacks were painfully slow, childishly predictable, and had only a bit more than half the power behind them he had expected. He had willingly taken several hits that had drawn his blood, and that was enough for his purposes.

' _I thought I would have to draw the fight out a bit to wear him down, but if this is the best he can do there's no point in dragging it out any further.'_

BoneSaw drew his fist back for yet another attack, ready to continue striking his foe as many times as it took to smash the consciousness out of his head. Faster than even his adrenaline-fueled eyes could see, his adversary struck the junction between his shoulder and pectoral muscle not with a clenched fist, but with extended fingers that dug into the tissue at the exact moment the massive arm was thrown forward.

The massive blow was halted mid-way through the swing as BoneSaw felt a sharp, burning pain that forced a cry of agony from his mouth. His eyes couldn't follow what had happened, but he didn't need to be an expert to know that a muscle, ligament, or some kind of soft tissue in his arm had been torn, twisted, or somehow disabled.

A punch that a civilian could only follow with slow-action video and was capable of cracking bone landed squarely in BoneSaw's Solar Plexus. His maw was forced open and exhaled the near entirety of the contents of his lungs in a sudden burst of air and noise that echoed through the arena before he even realized the previous blow to the shoulder had rendered his right arm almost completely numb and unable to be moved forward.

His body instinctively hunched forward from the sudden assault on his diaphragm, another uppercut too quick to be seen smashed into his chin and forced the head up so abruptly the brain inside was bounced off the inside of the skull hard enough to cause a concussion.

Seeing nothing but stars and unable to comprehend what was going on around him, BoneSaw did not feel Sasuke grasp his useless right arm with an iron grip before jumping into the air and using the acquired leverage to twist his body and deliver a flawless reverse roundhouse kick. His head was snapped to the side and the gums of his mouth were damaged enough from the blow to dislodge two teeth from their attachments to his jaw.

Upon landing on the ground dense leg muscles tensed and shot Sasuke's body forward the instant his feet touched the ground.

Quite ready to finish this, the Uchiha's right arm was thrown forward in a ferocious hook that smashed straight into BoneSaw's temple.

BoneSaw was thrown off his feet from the blow, several previously dislodged teeth falling from his mouth along with a mouthful of blood that smeared the floor of the arena.

He hit the floor with blood oozing from his mouth and struck areas of his scalp. He did not move and did not get up. An almost imperceptible rise and fall of his chest was the only sign that he was still alive.

For a second, there was a pause as the announcer and audience gradually comprehended what they had only seen as a series of blurs before a chorus of applause and cheers erupted.

Sasuke had several small bleeding injuries on his head and face, but he still held an unconcerned look as he glanced first toward his fallen enemy and then at the ecstatic audience.

For those in the stands, his neutral look only served to increases the drama of the match. Taka had defeated the reigning champion in less than two minutes, ignoring what should have been finishing blows and a seemingly hopeless trap in the arena's corner. He had pulled through and taken the win in less than two minutes, and he had made it look easy.

The cool and aloof expression showed them that it **had** been easy. It was clear there had never been any doubt in Taka's mind that he would triumph. All of the jeering and taunting before the match had meant nothing to him because he had known right from the start that he would be the last man standing.

The referee came to his side to pull his arm up and announce him the victor even when it was clear he would not be heard over the roar of the crowd.

" **THE CHALLENGER WINS THE MATCH! THE CHALLENGER WINS THE MATCH! UNBELIEVABLE! After three years of dominating the ring, BoneSaw has been defeated! Taka will take the 5000-lien prize and the title as Champion with it!"**

Sasuke inwardly cringed- he had somehow forgotten that all he had needed to do was last five minutes in the ring without loosing to get the prize money. Defeating BoneSaw, however, technically made him the new Champion as well.

' _Dammit, this position might do me more harm than good. I should have just kept my distance and run out the clock.'_

Being a champion did presumably come with decent pay as long as he kept winning, likely more than enough to finance his basic needs while he worked on the seal home. Unfortunately, such a title meant his name and appearance would be far more public than he would like. He had a good cover story, but it would be better if he didn't take unnecessary risks.

' _Although I probably would only have to spend a night or two working here if I accepted, which would give me plenty of spare time to work on the seal. And there are a large number of displaced people and orphans from Grimm attacks in the kingdom anyway. Even if I do become more well known it may not be that big a head turner.'_

"Great job, kid! Never seen anything like that performance!" the referee interjected. "With your size it's hard to believe, but you didn't use aura or cheat to win. Follow me, I'll take you to the owner to get you your winnings."

As they started their walk out of the arena, quickly pausing to make way for a pair of medics to take BoneSaw out on a stretcher, Sasuke couldn't help but feel a slight shock at the crowd's sudden change in attitude as he walked by. The sneers and mocking comments had been completely replaced with cheers and shouts of appreciation and adoration.

' _Three, two, one…'_

Right on cue, the **squeal** of dozens of newly-born fangirls filled his ears as he was unfortunately forced to walk within touching distance of the front-row crowd. The Uchiha repressed the urge to tense his body as every female and a few men made it their goal to lay as much of their hands on him as they could as he passed.

Their appreciation for his looks had been tempered by his age and their low expectations of his performance when he had first entered the ring. But now that it was clear he had talent and skill to back up his attitude the women held nothing back.

And some of the women really didn't hold anything back. By the time Sasuke got to the door marked 'Employees Only' no less than three pairs of naked breasts had been flashed to him.

' _And I thought Karin was forward with her advances…'_

As aggressive and blunt as the attention he had received from Sakura, Ino, and Karin had been, he was relatively sure they would never resort to _that_.

' _Modesty seems to be in short supply in this world.'_

The Uchiha took the short time walking to what he presumed would be the owner's office brainstorming possible outcomes of accepting or rejecting the title. It would likely be a tempting offer; but if whatever deal he could make didn't include some kind of identity protection for him he would have to decline. The job Eddie had done on his scroll was a decent one from what he could tell, but it would be a good idea to have some other fake records or documentation just in case his scroll was compromised.

* * *

After a brief detour to have his weapons and coat returned Sasuke was shown to a double set of what were obviously expensive wooden doors that were opened to reveal a slightly overweight middle-aged man with a grey suit and black tie seated at a well-kept desk in a rather traditional, if slightly larger than average office.

"Ah, the man of the hour! Allow me to introduce myself, I am Mr. Slate, or just Slate if you prefer. I am the owner of this establishment. Please, take a seat."

Stepping forward, the Uchiha eased himself into the opposite chair while making a point to position his legs so he could snap himself up immediately if for some reason his meeting went south. Mr. Slate had a rather amiable smile on his face, but the possibility he was upset at his loss could not be ruled out.

"I've got to be frank with you; I don't have the slightest clue where you chose your stage name. It's sure as hell not something I'm familiar with. But with your performance tonight I suppose you've earned the right to be called whatever you want out there" Slate said while leaning forward slightly in a friendly gesture, "However, seeing as how our business is a bit more personal, I would like to ask you your real name."

"...Sasuke Uchiha." There was little chance Taiyang or Ruby would be in the same crowd as Slate, so the Uchiha wasn't too worried about being identified.

Even without taking the father and daughter into account he was tired of either hiding his name or coming up with fake ones. It was awkward enough being called Taka by the announcer. This was one of the few occasions he could think of where he prioritized his emotional will over pragmatic reasoning. His clan had a proud and noble history, and he was sick of hiding its name from the people. Even if there was no way they would have heard of it before.

"A pleasure to meet you, Sasuke. I'm sure you've heard this already, but no one was expecting BoneSaw to be beaten by a teenager half his size tonight. Normally under such circumstances I would have thought there was no way you could have pulled that off without some kind of dirty trick and would have had a few of my boys take you out back for a lesson."

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed- the scroll reading his aura had been on and had shown nothing, not to mention the numerous cameras capturing the entire fight to show he had performed nothing illegal. He had been searched and scanned for any hidden weapons before he had even arrived at the waiting room after he had handed over his kunai pouch and sword. If Slate didn't keep his end of the bargain Sasuke would not hesitate to use force- a place like this wouldn't call the Police over a deal it would be easily proven they broke.

"Now calm down, no need to get upset. I didn't see the fight personally but I did catch a recording of it before you got here, and I don't see any evidence you cheated me. I'll admit I'm a bit disappointed I'm down 5000 lien on what should have been a series of easy matches, but a deal is a deal."

Slate pulled out a yellow envelope out of his desk before handing it to the Uchiha. Sasuke briefly opened the envelope to verify its contents before placing it in his coat pocket.

"I'm going to guess you didn't bring me to your office just to hand me the prize money" the Uchiha stated bluntly.

"You would guess correctly, Mr. Uchiha. You didn't technically need to win your match to get the prize, but the fact remains you went the extra mile and deserve to be compensated accordingly. You are our new Champion, and as long as you hold the title I can promise a 7000-lien payment every two weeks as well as more… high class services while you are here."

Sasuke kept his expression neutral but stiff as he responded, "And what would you be expecting of me?"

Slate leaned back while replying, "Why defending your title of course! You would only have to come for scheduled fights every Friday night starting at 10 o'clock unless you are still recovering from any injuries from the previous week. You would only get paid half the normal amount in such an event, but you would keep your title."

"Money isn't that great a concern to me" Sasuke replied. "Your offer is a good one. But if this is going to be beneficial for both of us, I'm going to need one more thing from you."

"A teenager that considers something else more important than money? This should be interesting" Mr. Slate remarked before leaning forward in anticipation. "What might your extra condition be?"

"Identity protection. Underground fighting by itself is a grey area in legal terms, but you and I will both be in trouble if the authorities find out your champion is a minor."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on" the older man exclaimed in disbelief, "You're telling me you aren't even eighteen?"

"I'm sixteen."

At that point Mr. Slate's jaw slackened and dropped and his eyes opened in clear surprise.

"Holy shit kid! With how you look and what you showed in the ring I thought you were around twenty! Your telling me you trained to fight at that level with no aura before you can even drink!?"

A small affirmative nod was Sasuke's only response.

"Damn kid, you must have had quite an interesting and intense life so far to be driven enough to get to where you are now."

' _You have no idea.'_

"But your age does present a complication. Don't get me wrong, I still want you here. But I might have to pull a few strings to cover this little issue u-"

The sound of doors opening behind him prompted the Uchiha to turn around at whoever had decided they had a good enough reason to interrupt their negotiations. Onyx eyes couldn't help but widen as Sasuke observed the largest non-Curse Mark modified human he had ever seen walk into the room.

He was a bear of a man both is stature and general appearance. He was around seven feet tall and had short black hair with what had to be a ridiculously thick beard and moustache. He was clearly more than just hired muscle though- the dress pants, vest, and tie he wore were far too sharp for a security detail.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if I could cash in on that favor you owed me if this young man will agree to it."

Judging from the newcomer's tone and language, there was going to be a mild conflict of interest between the two regarding him. So it was rather unexpected when Mr. Slate, instead of an argumentative response, simply paused a moment before growing a smile on his face that gave the impression he had just had everything he needed to solve his dilemma appear before him by sheer chance.

"Actually Junior, your timing could not be more perfect. Sasuke here is in need of a bit of… identity tweaking for the public eye. Surely you or one of your many friends are capable of such a commonplace task?"

"The only reason I came up here after seeing that match was to inform the new champion of a job opening I have. Making a fake scroll history or ID papers is a small price to pay" Junior proclaimed while turning to Sasuke, making a point to let him know he was the primary addressee of his statement.

The Uchiha made no body language signals of any kind to make sure both of them knew as little as possible about his state of mind. Negotiation, after all, was a contest that was governed by which party needed the other more. The more it appeared he was indifferent or unflappable the stronger his position would be.

"If I accept Slate's offer my Friday evenings and likely Saturday mornings will be spoken for. If your proposal interferes with that you are wasting your time unless you have more to offer."

"Oh, there shouldn't be any conflict of interest with the time Mr. Slate needs you for. I'm offering you a second job on the side if it interests you. It will take up a bit more of your time than Mr. Slate will, and the pay will only be about half of what you get here. But if you're willing to take the position you do have a bit of leeway when it comes to choosing your working days and I can give you the best ID cover there is."

"…I'm listening."

"I own a nightclub near downtown with some of the best nightlife in Vale there is. I've got plenty of security for the common problems of drunks, guys starting fights over who's going to go home with the girl, that kind of stuff. I do have a couple of bodyguards who have aura capabilities to deal with the unlikely scenario of a Hunter or Huntress coming in to cause trouble. Problem is they're the only people I currently have who I can trust to handle that kind of fight, which means I can't rotate them with anyone to get them consistent breaks or days off. They're not going to leave or anything, but they have been asking me for a while to hire someone that can deal with aura-users so they can have a bit more of a personal life. I only came here as a spectator, but after I saw you work your magic I think you'll fit the bill."

"You want to hire me as a bouncer?" That was it?

"I do. You may not have aura yourself but with your skills and speed you might stand a decent chance. Your speed is definitely comparable to a few Huntsman I've seen in action; maybe even a bit faster. The position is yours if you accept."

Sasuke had to agree with Slates' earlier assessment; Junior's timing was perfect. If Slate was willing to assert that Junior could get a good cover for him there was a good chance the man could deliver his promise. The chances he would have to get involved in a real fight with Huntsmen were likely pretty low, so in all likelihood he would just be a silent observer for most of his work hours with the occasional minor dispute to break up. For the Uchiha, it was a deal that had high rewards and low risk.

It felt odd that after such a long string of ridiculously poor fortune, an opportunity this good had fallen into his lap.

"Make a cover for me and you have a deal."

"Consider it done. I don't suppose you have any objections, Mr. Slate?"

"As long as I have him Friday nights, I couldn't care less what deal you have with Sasuke. But for the record, even without a conflict of interest consider my IOU paid."

"Fine," Junior scoffed, "I wouldn't have been able to get much out of your favor to me anyway."

"Alright then," Slate concluded, "looks like we have ourselves a deal."

* * *

AN: Please read and comment, reviews are my lifeblood and motivation!

Final note; more of a life advice thing. If by chance the opportunity comes to you, make sure to go out drinking during the Fall Daylight Savings Time. An entire extra hour to drink at the bars- best accident I'll probably ever make.


	6. Impressions

**AN: Next chapter, a long one, enjoy!**

 **I have decided on the general direction of the story, thank you to all who offered their opinions and suggestions!**

 **Couple quick points, a few reviewers have brought up the subject of Sasuke's as well as the RWBY character's heights to my attention. My short answer to this is that at least in this fic the RWBY cast will not have the Giraffe height they were given for some reason in canon with exceptions being characters like Junior or Yatsuhashi whose height is kind of a defining trait. Being sixteen Sasuke will be growing some during the course of this fic, but it's not really going to be a big point. I'm not going to change everything; all the short and average people are going to be the same and the character's relative heights to each other are still going to be the same. But Pyrrha, Sun, Glynda, Ozpin, Oobleck, Neptune, and Coco are all going to have a few inches removed. Pyrrha, Neptune, Sun, and Coco are all still growing themselves, so I don't see why they have an excuse to be over six feet tall just yet. Maybe in a year or two, but not yet. Not sure why Rooster Teeth made the decision to have half their characters show up the Dutch on a height chart, but it makes no sense to me considering basic demographic averages so I'm going to ignore it.**

 **A couple people also countered my Team Ten vs Sasuke vengeance argument by suggesting that Konoha may have learned from Sasuke and chose to sanction the mission to avoid having some of it's most promising shinobi leaving the village and dealing with the official fallout. I'll admit it's a perspective I had not considered, and makes a certain amount of sense. Even so, it doesn't change the fact that Team Ten was at the gates of Konoha ready to leave before it even became a mission. The shinobi villages are essentially military dictatorships who punish deserters by capturing or killing them on site. Even if Team Ten was too important to execute or disband there still should have been some kind of disciplinary action after they returned. It is still just as true that it was a missed opportunity to have Team Ten empathize with Sasuke a bit. Hell, even when Naruto was mourning Jiraiya and feeling the pain of loss he only compared his situation to Sasuke's once from what I can remember. That part at least could have been made much better relatively easily.**

 **NightmareKnight1- I will correct or not correct your assumptions, but I'll do it later if you keep reading. Thanks for the support!**

 **LordAzrael1- Kind of obvious Sasuke is going down the underworld route for now, but you may still be surprised.**

 **Master of Challenges- You're getting your wish.**

 **KnightofZaku- Yeah, I ripped BoneSaw right from the first Spider-man movie. Guilty as charged. I'm with you on the whole Gods thing, not sure why Ozpin would be eager to have them return.**

 **AC3Rarin- Thanks for the opinion on my fight scenes. Still kind of takes some effort to plan them out and put it in writing, but I like to think I'm improving.**

 **The Ayy- Most of your review can be answered by the explanation above regarding said argument about Team Ten and Sasuke's vengeance. You have really good English by the way. Hell of a lot better than my Filipino.**

 **Beta117- Don't try to predict things, you will only be disappointed.**

 **jexcel- You're reading this fic and haven't seen RWBY? Dude, you're missing out. I recommend it!**

 **Timothy Burr- I have to ask, did you have to use a calculator to figure that out or not?**

 **DeMightyLubu- Yes it is. I shamelessly ripped it off.**

 **The Baz- … a light bulb just appeared over my head.**

 **Reasonable Man- Power balance is going to be an iffy thing going forward, please refer to the beginning part of this chapter if you want a hint of what's coming. But yeah, with the exception of Remnant's Gods, Salem and pre-maiden Ozpin the mid-to high tier Naruto characters can practically solo the verse. Though before the Gods left it bears mentioning that Salem and Ozpin's magical powers and abilities were common. Hope I keep you interested regardless.**

 **Fanfictions4ever- See the chapter below and the footnote.**

 **Danish78- I have a couple ideas for what to do with Orochimaru, but I'm leaning toward a rather… unorthodox use for him.**

 **The Jingo- Great to hear from you as always. Dude, you updated your story only a few hours before I did. Don't know how that was timed.**

 **Attttth- Thanks for the praise. You and I are kindred souls on this site, I think.**

 **alaude hibari- When am I updating? Dude, if you had waited three hours your review might have been posted after I put this chapter up! I have read both of your suggested fics, already favorited them! This fic might be dead, but The Devil's Dark Knight Revamped is a pretty damn good one. Keeping my fingers crossed the author hasn't died in a car crash or something.**

' _thoughts'_

* * *

 **Uchiha of Remnant**

Chapter 6: Impressions

' _Would a Water-style Tortoise Shell be the best base to use, or would it not be solid enough to handle the chakra strain? I suppose I could modify a basic Oxen array, surely that would be rigid enough? But that one is rather temperamental and doesn't work very well if more than two or three additional sealings or modifications are added, and I'm probably going to have to add at least ten or twenty modified arrays to make this work.'_

It had been almost two days since Sasuke agreed to his dual employment. Ironing out the details with Mr. Slate and Junior had been simple and quick, and the fighting ring owner had been kind enough to let his new champion stay the night in a VIP guest room once he learned the Uchiha did not yet have a place of residence.

The following Saturday morning the Uchiha wasted no time in using his winnings to cover the down payment on a modest single bedroom apartment. It was on the fourth floor; allowing him to wall walk or jump out if he needed to flee for any reason and not worry about being immediately followed. At nighttime he could also just jump out the window and jump between rooftops to get to any destination much faster than he would walking on the street.

He had thought he would have to get ready to go to Junior's Club for his first night on the job later, but he had been texted by the larger man on his scroll that his first shift would be Sunday evening starting at six o'clock.

There were several reasons for the delay. Junior knew that Sasuke did not yet have housing, so decided to give him an extra day to get that taken care of as well as any other errands he needed to get settled in. The second reason was that Junior wanted to have Sasuke's fake identity ready to give to him the moment he came in, and whoever his contact was needed some time to get it ready. Saturday was also the busiest evening of the week for any club or bar, and Junior had decided that it was better if Sasuke had a less strenuous first day so he could learn the basics of the job without being overwhelmed.

The delay suited Sasuke just fine- he preferred a more spartan living space void of décor, but he still needed to get groceries, a few pieces of furniture, as well as some toiletries and kitchenware.

He was **not** going to be eating cheap take-out food for all three of his meals on the floor with his bare hands. His mother had raised him better than that.

It was now the following afternoon, a rather beautiful Sunday, and the clear sky and slightly straighter rays of sunlight betrayed the fact that for all of the snow still on the ground in both Vale and neighboring Patch, Spring was on its way.

Most people would use this relatively nice day to buy spring-season clothing early, or just socialize a bit. But Sasuke had a job to do.

He still had a few minutes before he had to be at the club, and he intended to use every second to begin crafting his seal home. It was going to be a long and difficult task, especially with no source material at hand to aid him. He was going to have to come up with the correct formula from nothing more than his own memory about the art of Fuinjutsu.

' _Maybe I should just have a basic summoning array and make it large enough to have additional seals both inside and outside the main array. But in that case, I would need an additional source of chakra applied to different parts of the seal in addition to the central one I will be powering to keep it stable.'_

That would be a problem. Aoda and Garuda would have to be inside the main array with him when the seal was activated, and wouldn't be able to lend their chakra to different parts of the seal. When he had been doing basic research on this world he had come across the subject of Dust, a naturally occurring crystalline mineral with various appearances used as a source of various energy. He had considered using it to help power the array and had stolen a small amount to see if he could manipulate it in the same way that the Huntsmen here could, similar to activating a seal or tree walk with his chakra.

Unfortunately, his results were rather poor. All of the crystals he had taken had refused to yield their energy to him. He had kept giving small amounts of chakra to the crystals with no manifestation of their power until he had apparently overloaded them and had exploded in his face with rather impressive force that he had barely been able to avoid injury from. Apparently, his chakra was not as compatible with Dust as the aura that Huntsmen used nor whatever technological means civilians used to exploit the dormant power of the mineral.

On the other hand he could manipulate Lightning Dust, release its latent power, and control the resulting electricity flawlessly using his Kirin ability. Regrettably the amount of Lightning Dust he would need to adequately fuel the seal was far beyond what he could be reasonably expected to acquire, even a millionaire's fortune would be hard-pressed to cover the bill. Stealing it was out of the question- it would take too long to get the amount needed and it would only paint a target on his back. It wasn't worth the risk.

' _If I can't get another source of power for the seal then it will all have to be arranged around a single inlet of chakra, and that's going to limit its size and complexity; two of the things the array I'm making will almost certainly need.'_

The vast majority of seals had a single point of activation; the focal point where the shinobi's hand or finger either activated a seal that was already drawn or where the shinobi drew out their chakra to create and activate a seal almost simultaneously. That point of contact was where the chakra needed to activate to seal came from. For a large seal, such as the one he was going to be making, having such a large quantity of chakra flow into the seal from a single point risked having the seal be overwhelmed, the equivalent of a short circuit. As such there would often be more than one person inputting chakra to the array.

Without Dust, he would have to power the array by himself using a single point to inject chakra, limiting its size and complexity. The seal had to also be large enough to **be** complex enough to do its job. It was a paradox he had no doubt he would spend hours trying to overcome.

Some seals, such as storage seals or seals that served as simple barriers or tripwires, were extremely simple in their design and creation due to the straightforward nature of their function, and could be very small and easily hidden as a result. His wrist seals holding extra kunai and shuriken being excellent examples of such.

Large barriers, summoning, and reverse summoning seals were far more complex. The arrays necessary to crack the fabric of space and time were complex enough, and making sure the breach was stable and safe enough to actually transport a person or object through only added to what was needed. They had to have components to connect the seal and its user to the intended destination, something to allow the seal to determine where the destination even was, a solid enough base to handle the strain of tampering with space itself without disturbing the integrity of the seal, and the list went on. It was why summoning in general was relatively rare and was usually only performed by Jonin level shinobi or greater.

Coming up with solutions to the many obstacles he faced was forcing Sasuke to confront a rather uncomfortable truth about himself- he wasn't particularly patient. It was a flaw that had its roots in his genius nature; he was simply used to understanding new concepts and learning new things at a quick pace and was unaccustomed to progressing slowly or getting stuck. There was no doubt in his mind that he would eventually succeed. He was moving slowly, not stuck completely. Nevertheless it was obvious this would be a long-term endeavor.

And that was an issue because he would be working on the seal for long time. Over the course of an hour or two frustration and irritation over his relatively slow progress would gradually creep into his thoughts. This extra stress would cause him to think even less efficiently, which only increased is frustration even more, and so on in a positive feedback loop that would do more harm than good in accomplishing his task.

This hadn't usually been a problem for him when he was training under Orochimaru. He had learned almost all concepts and jutsu incredibly quickly anyway. The few occasions it did happen though, Orochimaru had saw fit to start or continue a new lesson that was easier to understand and calm his frustrations or just give him a quick break or bite to eat. Any time Sasuke was teaching himself (out of sight of his teacher that he intended to kill) and found himself having learner's block, he usually took a few minutes to activate the wings of his Curse Seal and soar through the sky, leaving his worries and problems behind and allowing his mind to truly relax and bask in the freedom of the air.

It was the only true hobby he had during his years with the Sannin. Every other moment was spent training either his body, mind, or developing new techniques. Even the time needed to eat and sleep had been slashed to their absolute minimum to maximize the time spent improving himself. Looking back, Sasuke could honestly say he had not wasted a second of his time save for the brief flights he took. Even the time spent running to a new hideout had been used to brainstorm new jutsu or practice chakra control.

He did not have many of those options here. The Curse Mark couldn't be activated for some reason, probably a lack of Nature Energy that Aoda had pointed out. Spending his chakra to practice new jutsu would only waste it.

Sasuke did fully intend to keep up a training regimen even if he couldn't waste chakra to create seals to make training weights like the ones Rock Lee had. But there was an abandoned manufacturing plant a few blocks away with plenty of abandoned and heavy machinery over several floors that could serve his purposes adequately.

One thing he was looking forward to learning in his breaks creating the seal was the knowledge this world possessed in technology, physics, and chemistry. It was obvious just looking around that humanity here was far more advanced technologically than his own. The shinobi world did seem to hold the edge in general physiology knowledge, medicine, and biomedical science even without the advanced instruments such as X-rays aiding them (one of the few fruits of generations of fighting, healing, and killing their fellow man), but that was the only field this new world did not overshadow his own.

The drive to learn more and improve what he had was a trait Sasuke and Orochimaru both possessed, and one of the few qualities he was proud to share with the Sannin. Part of the reason he wanted to learn the modern technology here was to have a better understanding of his host world for as long as he was here, but a part of him was planning to perhaps 'borrow' a few innovations and create them in his home after he killed Itachi and returned to Konoha (if they would take him back). He had been left the entire Uchiha fortune after the massacre, and the laws set up determining rights of inheritance by the founding clans prevented it from being liquidated or transferred unless he was labeled a missing-nin, a step that had not yet occurred. Even with his relative fortune adding a zero or two to his treasury account wouldn't hurt, not to mention the positive reputation he and his clan would receive for 'inventing' such revolutionary creature comforts in the decades to come.

His interest in physics and chemistry was far more practical. He had delved briefly into the subject on Patch in a school textbook and had come across several **very** interesting sections that had him as giddy with anticipation as he could probably get.

His Fire-style jutsu could potentially be greatly improved by applying some of the chemical principles of combustion and exothermic reactions that were unknown to his land. The section that informed him that a flame's color and more importantly it's temperature could change depending on the fuel, air quality, and speed of combustion was almost begging him to invent new jutsu based on the information it held. And that wasn't even mentioning the brief explanation of Magnesium fire that was apparently immune to any attempt by water or carbon dioxide to put it out.

And the electricity chapter… if Sasuke could pull off half of the ideas this section alone gave him Itachi was as good as dead- Mangekyou Sharingan be damned. Circuits, capacitors, amps, electric fields, electromagnetism, electrochemistry, electromagnetic levitation, electric power, ions, electric auroras, electric heating, plasmas, and the list went on. It was undeniably complex, and putting it into practice with either his lightning-style chakra or any Kirin-acquired lightning would be more difficult still. If it was possible at all.

Still, he was optimistic. If the Second Hokage could figure out how to reanimate the dead and Orochimaru could create a jutsu to form a new body from scratch in mere seconds then simply applying established laws of nature to his own abilities was well within his capabilities.

The fact he was stranded in a foreign world and forced to delay his quest for vengeance was still not something he was going to make peace with anytime soon. But if he could utilize the information that was exclusively available to him here to create all original jutsu and abilities that no one from his home would have a chance of replicating or even understanding he would consider it a pretty damn useful delay.

It would have to wait for another time though. Six o'clock was fast approaching and it wouldn't be in good taste to be late, a lesson that was drilled into him firmly by both of his parents and most certainly not Kakashi.

* * *

' _This can't be the right place.'_

It seemed a reasonable assumption. The address he had put in his scroll was correct, and it was close to downtown as Junior had said. He had also boasted that his place was the best club in all of Vale, but the rather discreet entrance surrounded by a more industrial-themed border section of the city did not exactly sell the reputation of a high-class place. A place like this normally would have been surrounded by other similar bars and nightlife establishments, but this one was fairly isolated as far as he could tell.

Still, he was here. And after double checking Junior's text and confirming he did have the correct location he decided to knock on the door anyway. Even if his employer was exaggerating, so long as he got a full-proof fake ID and the promised paycheck he wouldn't complain.

A small sheet of metal slid away to reveal what appeared to be a pair of eyes covered by red sunglasses.

"What are you here for, kid?"

"I'm a new employee here. Junior hired me the day before yesterday."

"Oh, that one. Sasuke, right?"

An affirmative nod was his only reply.

"In that case you won't mind confirming what your last name is too."

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed- he wasn't sure why Junior saw fit to tell his doorman to confirm his identity when he would just be meeting him himself soon.

' _Is he worried about a snitch or sting operation? If that's the case he probably has some illegal or shifty activities going on. People don't put security up like this if there's nothing to hide.'_

If that was the case, he had chosen a terrible place for his business- a more crowded area would be more difficult to monitor and law enforcement would be more hesitant to use force with so many people who could be caught in any crossfire.

"Uchiha" he replied, pausing his thoughts on the matter.

The doorman quickly nodded his head before unlocking the door for his new co-worker to reveal several men in rather sharp black suits with matching top hats and red sunglasses and ties.

' _They aren't part of a clan, are they?'_ Even accounting for their similar attire, they had an uncanny resemblance to each other.

"Follow me," one of the suited men asserted "I'll take you to the boss."

"Hn."

Sasuke hadn't finished making his first step inside before he realized it almost felt like he was walking into a different world.

Outside the club door was a drab and rather depressing environment that reeked of decay. Rusting pipes, cracked and graffiti-covered surfaces, and gray, aged asphalt dominated the senses of anyone outside. Inside, however, the excess dirt and grime vanished. The walls, floor, and ceiling were black in color and had a smooth, polished appearance. The floor in particular looked clean enough to eat off it.

He followed his guide further into the building down a hallway dimly lit by red light that echoed the pulse of what was probably a popular dance song played at various dance clubs.

The sight that awaited him when the doors to the club's main room fully convinced him that Junior's claim of having the best club in Vale was not an exaggeration. The ceiling was three stories tall, either for show or to prevent excess body heat from building up on the snow-white dance floor when it got crowded. An enormous array of fog machines, lasers, and lights of all kinds no doubt synchronized with played music sat on the edge of the ceiling and directly above the dance floor. Several glass columns rose from the floor in what must have been a purely aesthetic design choice accompanied by several holographic trees that varied in shade from white, to black, to bright red. Stairs located all around the edges of the room led to several balconies and adjacent rooms, further emphasizing the size of the establishment. A curious feature about the place was a preference for glass or transparent surfaces and construction. All of the tables and stairs he saw except for the main entrance that he hadn't come from were completely see-through and as spotless as everything he had seen so far. He had no idea who was cleaning this place so effectively but he hoped Junior was paying them appropriately for a job well done.

On one of the walls was the largest bar Sasuke had ever laid eyes on and was likely the zenith of one of Tsunade's fantasies if the stories he heard about her love of alcohol had a grain of truth to them. The length of the bar in feet was either in the triple digits or damn close to it, and the wall behind it was covered by shelf after shelf of tightly packed alcohol bottles intricately organized by type, brand, and size.

It was at the bar that Sasuke noticed Junior talking to one of his employees, likely making a few last-minute checks before patrons started to arrive.

"Ah, Sasuke, glad you could make it," the man stated upon seeing him, dismissing the other man. "I hope you found a good place to stay?"

"I took care of it."

"Finishing your business quickly? That's a good attitude, if you keep it while you're here I think you and I will get along just fine. But first, I imagine you want to make sure I kept my end of the bargain."

Junior removed a large yellow envelope from his breast pocket before opening it and showing its contents to the Uchiha.

Whoever had done the work knew what they were doing; the documents all had official embroidery and titles from what he could tell, and even had the thicker, official parchment and raised writing that could likely be felt by any fingertips brushing the surface. His photograph was flawless as well, complete with a fake expiration date.

However, it was impossible to miss the fact that Junior was still holding all of the documents and was not making any move to hand them over.

"I did agree to give you a fake ID, but you'll get it after you finish your first day here and show me you can do your job. It's nothing personal, but I have to make sure I didn't go to the trouble of getting this made for nothing."

It was slightly frustrating, but it was understandable. Sasuke would have done the same thing in his shoes.

It didn't matter anyway, the Uchiha was fully intent on delivering his end of the deal. Even if his stay in this world was only temporary, the thought of having a reputation as lazy or useless left an intolerable taste in his mouth.

"That is acceptable."

"Wonderful" Junior remarked, placing the envelope back in his pocket. "Now I'm only really hiring you as specialized security, essentially. If there's any Huntsmen, Huntresses, or a large group of people making trouble I expect you to be the first to step up and handle it. My regular boys can handle most of the lone drunks that want to start something, but if you're around I want you to take the initiative or at least watch and make sure they don't need back-up. I should let you know that as far as night clubs go, this is a clean one. Drinks are obviously allowed, but no one is allowed to smoke or bring any kind of drugs in here, and anyone who starts to doze off from too many bottles needs to be shown out as well. As for behavior people are gonna grind on each other all the time here, but that's as far as things go. You see anyone start taking any clothes off anywhere in here you kick them out. If the patrons get that horny, they can bang each other at their own place. It's difficult enough to keep this place clean without worrying about wiping up… fluids."

The Uchiha suppressed a shudder at the thought, his sympathies briefly going out to whoever was unfortunate enough to have the task of cleaning up aftersex on their job description before returning his attention to his employer.

"We open at 7 o'clock Sunday through Thursday and close at two in the morning, but on Friday and Saturday the doors open at 6:30 and last call is at three. We do have a kitchen that serves food, but it closes at 9:30 every evening. You are being hired primarily as a bouncer, but if it's busy and we're falling behind somewhere else you might be doing another job to help out. Any questions so far?"

A shake of the head was Sasuke's only reply.

"Alright, now let me show you around."

Sasuke was then given a comprehensive tour of the place around and outside the main dance amphitheater. There were obvious bathrooms and supply closets, but located on the second floor were several large rooms that hosted larger groups that reserved them. The third floor was host to much of the music and lighting controls as well as several offices that seemed to have more locks than he would have thought necessary for a room that only held files and paperwork. The third floor also had two extravagant VIP lounges with their own mini-bars and DJ stands.

By the time they returned several customers had arrived and had already ordered drinks, but Junior instead led him toward two girls around his age dressed in white and red themed dresses respectively.

On closer inspection they appeared to be identical twins, though aside from the difference in their wardrobe the white-themed girl had much longer hair than her counterpart. Even to his untrained eyes it was clear every item of clothing was chosen to compliment their respective individual as well as each other. These two clearly took their appearance very seriously.

Curiously despite what their meticulous attention to their clothing might suggest, they did not make the mistake many women often made of overdoing makeup. In fact, cyan and red colored eye shadow were the only examples of such he could see. No base or blush to be found.

The Uchiha's senses were not fooled by their fashionable appearance. He may not have been as skilled as Karin, but his chakra-sensing abilities were modestly developed- and even if it wasn't chakra as he knew it he could still sense the subtle presence of aura around both of the girls as well as Junior.

"Melanie, Miltia, I'd like you to meet your new colleague."

The twins directed their attention to him, briefly glancing up and down to assess him.

"This is Sasuke Uchiha," Junior continued, "Sasuke, this is Melanie and Miltia Malachite. They're the two I told you about that you'll be helping relieve."

Even considering their aura, Sasuke wasn't too impressed. As fashionable as their attire was, it was clearly meant for show instead of practicality.

"If you're vouching for him, I guess he's worth something. Still, we were expecting someone a bit… older" Melanie remarked.

The Uchiha bit back a remark he would have not hesitated for a second to retort with if Naruto had uttered those words. He needed the job and the favor from Junior, so it was better to not to take part in pointless arguments.

"You told us he didn't have aura, so how is he going to compensate for that?" Miltia added.

"Don't make the mistake of underestimating him. The previous champion of Slate's fighting ring thought the same thing two nights ago and lost his title in two minutes."

"Hn. If you say so" the longer-haired twin asserted, though the tone of her voice still reeked of doubt.

"I want you to shadow them for the night, Sasuke. Find me when we close and we'll discuss our deal."

In other words, 'stay where they can see you so I'll have a reliable source tell me if you're worth keeping my end of the agreement.'

"Fine."

With that Junior left toward the bar, presumably to oversee the area with the most transactions. He had scarcely made it out of earshot when Melanie and Miltia turned toward him with expressions that could not have stated more clearly that they did not appreciate being stuck with the new guy.

Normally he would have been slightly annoyed at the thought of being forced to work with people who had such an attitude, but for some reason he couldn't identify it was instead provoking feelings of relief and satisfaction.

"Hn" the sisters huffed in unison before turning around and walking toward the stairs, clearly expecting him to follow.

' _You know from the other end that word is kind of annoying to hear.'_ The irony that they were using what some would call his favorite response on him did not escape Sasuke's notice.

"I really hope you meet Junior's expectations. Although I can't say I'm… optimistic about your chances" Melanie confessed. She seemed to be the more skeptical and confrontational of the two from what little Sasuke had observed. Miltia was not sold either and still had a healthy amount of doubt like her sister, but seemed to be less passive-aggressive and was a bit more polite.

"We were expecting someone that had a bit more… impressive appearance" she finished.

"So was I" Sasuke retorted, having had quite enough of their attitude. He hadn't planned on actively getting on their bad side but it was time he drew the line. It was a bit of a risk, but respect wouldn't come to those who didn't stand up for themselves.

Both twins spun around abruptly and fixed him with heated glares. They weren't sure if Sasuke had been criticizing their appearance in a professional or fashionable context, but it didn't really matter. Like most women, they took insults to their looks very seriously.

Sasuke could not have cared less.

"Excuse m-!"

"I didn't come here to listen to the opinions of people who don't know what they're talking about" Sasuke interrupted, cutting off Miltia's retort and wresting the initiative of the conversation from the twins. "From what I was told you wanted another hire to take some of your slack so you could have more time off to yourselves. What you plan on doing with your extra personal time is your business. Go out with friends, shop for clothes, see a movie or two, set up a date night with your boyfriends, whatever you want."

"But if you want that time off," the Uchiha continued, stepping forward to the edge of the twins' personal space to loom over them, "you might want to stay on my good side. I don't know how you were raised but your passive-aggressive routine is no way to behave to someone doing you a favor."

With that Sasuke ended his retort, disregarding the twin's personal bubble to walk straight past them to let them know in no uncertain terms that he was not going to be another lackey to boss around.

Regaining their composure, the sisters turned around to catch up with him.

"Hn" they replied in unison again, though with audibly more force than last time that betrayed their temper. "You had better be able to back that attitude up. It will take more than good looks to be worth keeping around here" Miltia countered.

It was at that moment Sasuke figured out why he had a strange feeling satisfaction earlier from being doubted by the sisters. For most of his life females around him had seen him as nothing more than a pretty face and wanted to be around him for no greater or deeper reason. These were the first women in a long time that were mature enough to judge him on his merits (or lack thereof in this case) and place his physical appearance as secondary importance.

If he wanted to obtain their approval or respect, he would have to earn it by his own efforts and skills. The normal way, in other words.

It was… refreshing to be treated as an ordinary person as opposed to the mindless praise and approval he usually got by people who had never met him. Despite their earlier rude behavior and their still present doubt of him, his opinion of the twins instantly skyrocketed to heights he never would have thought possible so soon after meeting them. If they consistently based their actions and opinions on personal character as they had done with him, they might be more tolerable company than he had first assumed.

Still, the Uchiha knew better than to tell them that.

"Don't worry about my qualifications, I can assure you they are more than enough. Hopefully I'll have an occasion to prove it by the end of the night and put an end to your baseless conjecture."

* * *

It may have been too much to hope for. It was a bit after one o'clock in the morning and so far, nothing had gone wrong. It wasn't too busy a night in relative terms, but there were still roughly fifty people still present either drinking, dancing, or trying to socialize at the last minute to find a partner to go home with.

His time spent so far with the Malachite twins had been mostly in silence. All three had agreed to spend most of their time on a second-floor balcony that was restricted by an employees-only velvet rope to prevent any customers from trying to socialize with them. The twins occasionally pointed small details out to him, but for the most part occasionally monitoring the patrons on the floor below while conversing amongst each other while sipping on their acquired cocktails. Their difference in preferred drinks; a Raspberry Mule for Melanie and a Bloody Mary for Miltia, further emphasized that the twins were far from carbon copies of each other.

Sasuke was all business. To any onlookers he was passively watching the people below with an almost lazy expression, but that appearance hid the truth. For all of his nonchalant appearance, he was taking in more detail than most people would believe possible. Who had come in when, accompanied by who, the nature of the relationship they seemed to share, what mood they had arrived in with and any changes thereafter, the number and type of drinks each customer had, their clothing and probable background, who looked anxious for more acquaintances to arrive, who looked ready to leave, who was wanting to talk or not talk to who, and so on. For the past four hours Sasuke had been mentally cataloging his observations for dozens of individuals to ensure that he would have a good chance of spotting a potential problem before it happened and knew as much relevant information as he could.

One of Junior's men had come up a couple hours previously and offered him a cocktail to help pass the time, but the Uchiha had requested only water instead. There was no way one drink would affect him, but it would be a better first impression if he made it clear he was there for the job instead of free drinks.

A flash of movement too deliberate and quick to be simple hand gestures of casual conversation grabbed his attention. His gaze came upon a towering man in his mid-twenties built like an ox who was beginning a rather heated discussion with a more average sized but still large male that was starting to involve pointing their fingers in accusation as well as other body language signs of conflict. The larger of the two seemed to be the primary aggressor, though the smaller one was taking no steps to diffuse the situation.

Neither of these two had come in together and were likely complete strangers to the other- but a quick glance at the group surrounding them explained everything.

The larger man was backed up by what he had observed to be a couple who were standing behind him. Based on their expressions they were hoping there wouldn't be a physical confrontation, but had no doubts of who they would be supporting if things went that far.

The smaller man also had support from someone he had entered the club with; another male who was standing next to the reason for their quarrel.

' _A girl. What else would it be?'_

It was actually a pair of women, close friends from what he could tell. One of them was standing next to the smaller man's friend- they had been flirting with each other for over an hour now and had decided to pair up for the night.

Her friend, by contrast, had not had the same luck to find a potential partner early on. Which was resulting in the two men who had both talked to her at earlier points in the evening to clash for the right to earn her favor.

"I'm going down, a fight is about to break out" the Uchiha informed the twins.

Melanie and Miltia broke off their conversation to follow Sasuke's gaze to the verbal argument taking place below them. It didn't take them long to recognize the situation.

"Keep watching a bit, they might still settle down" Miltia contended, not quite ready to take action just yet.

"No, both of them have had five drinks in the past hour and a half. Neither of them is going to be thinking about calming down" the Uchiha countered, starting to make his way to the stairs.

"Looks like you've got your chance to show what you've got" Melanie added while both sisters began to follow him, placing their drinks down before continuing. Even if it was Sasuke's trial by fire, both knew they were expected to be around in case he needed help.

"You don't need to help me. But if you insist on coming just stand by the exit doors."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

As Sasuke made his way toward his target it was clear he had made the right choice to intervene. Scowls were present on both of their faces and all fours fists were clenched.

The larger male was in the middle of a tirade when he felt a painfully strong iron grip on his shoulder before he was spun around with surprising force.

"If the two of you are going to start something, take it outside."

Both men turned to the newcomer that had clearly addressed the both of them and not just the one whose shoulder he had grabbed. The speaker was only a kid- late teens to early twenties if they were to guess. His head barely cleared the chin of the larger one, nullifying the otherwise intimidating glare he was giving them.

Everyone around them silenced their conversations to watch what unfolded, a bit shocked that someone so much smaller would try to dictate anything to them.

"Haha!" the larger one chuckled, brushing the offending hand from his shoulder. "That's real cute, kid. It's also none of your damn business."

He took a step forward, attempting to intimidate the Uchiha with his greater size.

"Why don't you go home and jerk off to some porn or something like a good little boy before you get hu-!"

The collective eyes of the audience widened in shock as Sasuke dug his fist into the man's gut faster than any of them could follow, displacing several organs with enough trauma to force his victim to cough up blood from damaged right lung tissue the following day.

"It **was not** a request."

Sasuke reached forward to grab the throat of the man with just enough force to half-close his windpipe, ignoring the man's flailing arms he was throwing around in his panic and shock.

He turned to Melanie and Miltia by the door, jolting them out of their shocked stupor to give them a quick nod for them to open the exit door.

The twins had scarcely done so before the Uchiha stepped forward to throw with a single arm the almost 300-pound man twenty-five feet out the door straight into the concrete sidewalk outside with an audible thud that knocked him unconscious on impact.

"You son of a bitch!"

The man's friend was apparently still willing to step up to defend his companion. Multiple gasps were heard by the surrounding crowd as Sasuke turned around to deal with the second problem of the night.

' _Shit!'_ The man had pulled out a small handgun. _'I didn't think he would snap like that, but he's had enough alcohol to impair his judgement.'_

"Everyone behind me, get clear!"

He was going to have to rush the man and disarm him, but even with his command to clear out the crowd behind him was going to be moving more slowly with the alcohol slowing their movements down.

Sasuke dashed forward at blinding speed, but mentally cursed as the man's index finger began to pull the trigger- he wouldn't close the distance quite fast enough. Locking on to where the gun was pointed, the Uchiha focused his eyesight and brought his hands together.

The crowd watched as Sasuke dashed forward before unanimously flinching at the sudden report of a single gunshot. Sasuke's foot flew upward to kick the firearm from the man's grip a moment later before he could fire again, forcing him to take a step back.

The Uchiha had a grimace on his face with his teeth tightly clenched, his palms flattened together in a manner that looked almost like a prayer. The disarmed man looked at him in confusion.

' _I thought I hit him?'_

The Uchiha looked up, and the man was frozen in terror from the sheer venom on his face. His palms slowly opened, several drops of blood falling on to the floor.

The man's eyes opened and jaw dropped as far as they could go when he saw the bullet in Sasuke's hand.

He had caught it. He had fucking **caught** it!

The friction from the bullet's momentum had burned and scraped his skin almost to the muscle, but he had caught it.

The Uchiha casually dropped the bullet to the ground, ignoring the silent looks of utter shock and disbelief of the patrons, club workers, as well as Junior and the twins.

The disarmed man had no time to think anything else before Sasuke closed the distance in the time it took to blink and knocked him out with a solid punch to the face that removed several teeth.

The man's girlfriend he had come with had a scream die in her throat as Sasuke diverted his attention to her.

" **Out."**

She didn't need to be told twice. Not even bothering to try to carry her boyfriend with her, she sprinted out the exit door without looking back.

"You three," Sasuke said, snapping several of Junior's employees out of their stupor, "get him out of here."

The henchmen immediately went to grab the unconscious man while the Uchiha quickly made his way back to the stairs, ignoring the round of applause for his performance.

He had just finished taking a swig from his glass of water while trying to figure out from context what the word 'porn' the larger man had uttered earlier meant. It was clearly a noun of some kind.

' _Maybe I'll look it up later'_ the Uchiha considered before hearing the twins coming up from behind him, having just picked up their drinks they left at the foot of the stairs.

"Hey, Sasuke?" an inquisitive but still very slightly demanding tone asked.

"What is it Melanie?"

There was a pregnant pause for a few seconds before the Uchiha turned around to see what they wanted. They appeared to be staring at each other in what some would term a silent conversation before redirecting their attention to him, their curiosity evident.

"How did you know it was me?" Melanie inquired.

"What?"

"How did you know it was me talking to you and not my sister?"

Oh.

"Your boots have a blade for a heel instead of Miltia's stilettos. They make a slightly different sound when you walk. If you must know your difference in drink choice also helped."

The girls looked between them, puzzled how that made a difference.

"Melanie has a rum-based drink, so has a sweeter smell to it compared to the vodka-based Bloody Mary Miltia has. Once you brought your drinks back up, I could tell from the stronger sweet aroma that Melanie came up first. The different perfumes you're both using betrayed you in the same way. After that I judged the speaker's relative position and figured it out from there."

The twins had to put effort into keeping their jaws in place, trying to comprehend the fact he could distinguish them by the _smell of their drinks_ of all things.

"Even without that," Sasuke continued, gesturing to Melanie "you were more likely to be the one to come up to me with a question based on your personality."

"What are you talking about?" Miltia questioned. Both girls raising an eyebrow in curiosity, clearly wishing for the Uchiha to clarify.

"It surely can't be a surprise to either of you that being identical twins doesn't mean you are completely the same." the Uchiha started, wondering why the twins seemed to have trouble comprehending what should have been a blatantly obvious fact for them. "Even ignoring your visible difference in choice of clothing and palate, you two are different. Your character is very similar to each other, but Melanie is slightly more confrontational and aggressive in conversation. Miltia is similar too, but a bit more… agreeable and polite. Knowing that, it was a safe bet who would be the first one to ask a question."

The twins now had an unabashed look of surprise that could not conceal the fact they were impressed with his deductions.

Sasuke only replied with a look that made obvious his disbelief that they didn't already know the difference between them.

"Of course we know we're different!" Miltia contended, countering the Uchiha's implication before looking at him with newfound respect. "It's just that most people don't realize it."

Almost no one realized it, actually. It was part of the reason the two had decided to consistently wear differently-colored attire and have different hair lengths. It was endlessly aggravating to have people who supposedly knew them be unable to tell the difference between the two.

It was even worse on most dates they went on. Their standards for boys were high enough, but finding any that thought of the twins as anything more than a matched set of identical girls was next to impossible. They had lost count how many dates they had cut short when it was clear the men in question were only interested in fulfilling the popular male fantasy of bedding a pair of twins.

Neither Melanie nor Miltia knew how Sasuke had figured out their differences so quickly after meeting them, with almost no words spoken between them to boot. But they weren't going to complain.

It was… refreshing to be so quickly recognized for the people they were and not just pieces of a set. Despite his rudeness and overconfidence (who were they kidding, he had every reason to be overconfident after catching a bullet), their opinion of their potential co-worker instantly skyrocketed to heights they never would have thought possible so soon after meeting him. If he continued to treat them as separate individuals and be competent with his job, he might be more tolerable company than they had first assumed.

Still, both twins knew better than to tell him that.

A small gasp escaped Miltia's mouth as she saw the gentle oozing of blood from Sasuke's palms.

"Damn! You didn't tell us the shot did that to your hands!"

"It didn't even break the skin, it's not a big de-"

The Uchiha's retort was cut short by both twins forcibly grabbing a palm, leaving him no room to argue.

"What is it about men and refusing any and all help for injuries?" Miltia asked rhetorically as both twins pulled out small handkerchiefs to soak up the blood and start clotting the wound.

"Shut up and keep your hands still. This is happening whether you want it or not" Melanie scolded, refusing to allow him to leave his injury alone.

' _Why is it that everyone in this world is obsessed with treating non-serious injuries? First Ruby and Taiyang, and now these two.'_

Sasuke resigned himself to his fate- it wasn't worth the effort to get out of it.

"Why didn't you try to dodge the gun's line of fire? You were more than fast enough to, so what was the point of charging head-on like that?"

"And what would have been hit behind me if I had moved to the side?" Sasuke countered.

The twins' eyes widened slightly in realization- the surrounding crowd would have been at risk in that case.

"Why do you think I told everyone behind me to get clear?"

The twins now understood the reasons for his actions, even if they were still flabbergasted how quickly he had comprehended and addressed the shooter situation.

"So," both twins began simultaneously, before their subtle differences resulted in Miltia halting her question and allowing Melanie to continue, "how the hell did you catch that?"

* * *

"Nice work, Sasuke!" Junior called out, removing the envelope with Sasuke's fake identity from his pocket. "I knew I made a good choice hiring you."

"Hn."

It was 2 o'clock in the morning, and the last patron had just left the building to make their way home. Junior's other henchmen were beginning to count the books and start cleaning the place up, but Sasuke headed straight to Junior with Melanie and Miltia to finish their negotiation.

"I don't know how on earth you pulled that stunt off kid, but you earned your stripes as far as I'm concerned. Welcome aboard!"

It was a good deal as far as the Uchiha was concerned. If today was about the worst he could expect here this job would be a breeze. Unfortunately despite confirming Sasuke would continue to work for him, Junior still did not make any moves to hand him the agreed documents. He was holding it almost in an amused manner, as though teasing him with the prize was a mildly amusing joke as he stood beside one of the larger tables closest to the bar.

Sasuke was not about to be cheated and fixed a glare that promised pain if Junior kept procrastinating his end of the deal.

"Now, now, don't get upset. I did forget to mention one other condition you have to fulfill if you want this."

It was at this point Sasuke noticed all of the employees present, including Melanie and Miltia, start to surround the two of them in what seemed to be eager anticipation. Everyone, especially the twins, had knowing grins on their faces that betrayed their excitement for whatever was next.

"You see Sasuke, you don't formally work for me until you've gone through… initiation."

Two henchmen then arrived at Junior's side to place several items on the table next to him.

Upon inspection, they were revealed to be a tray of 30 milliliter shot glasses, a basketball, and what he identified as a growler of Devil Springs Vodka.

"…You're joking."

"No joke, no trick. I don't care if you're underage- if you want to work for me you have to go through this and humiliate yourself just like the rest of us did."

"What do I do?"

"You drink, of course! It's very simple, you take one shot every minute and place the shot glass face down by yourself with no help. In between shots, you dribble the basketball. Initiation ends when you're too drunk to place the shot glass down right. The rest of us take bets on how long you can go before you lose the basketball and how many shots you can down and how much of the gallon you can get through before you say goodbye to your motor functions."

"Hn. Get me a chair."

The surrounding crowd whooped and cheered, several henchmen writing down their colleague's bets as Junior poured the first shot.

Sasuke couldn't keep a small grin off his face. These poor fools had no idea who they were dealing with.

* * *

The last Beowolf had its head exploded, courtesy of Ember Celica's shotgun. This was ridiculous- Patch was known for its relatively rarity of Grimm. Even those that were found there matured far more slowly and were far more passive than anywhere else in the world. They rarely left the western end of the island. It was a main reason it was considered the safest place to live outside the four kingdoms' major cities.

Despite the island's peaceful reputation she had been told about her whole life, Yang Xiao Long could obviously see something had changed. She had been helping trying to track down some foreigner that her sister brought home almost exactly a week ago, but after days of coming up empty-handed the duo had decided to try their luck with the slowly warming but still frozen countryside. Normally she would have not worried too much about Grimm. They were few and far between on Patch, the large number of Grimm that attacked her little sister during her latest visit to Summer being an exception rather than the norm. Scarcely two hours since leaving their home, however, they had been attacked by large numbers of Grimm no less than four times.

This had been the largest group so far, well over one hundred and twenty. And they were tougher than usual. Normally both Yang and Ruby could take a single Grimm here out with one attack, but something had roided these Grimm up. It was nothing they couldn't handle, but for the first time in a while both she had Ruby had to pause to catch their breath.

"Doing okay, sis?" the younger of the two inquired.

"Great. You know me, always up for an adventure."

"Awesome, lets keep up the pace!"

Ruby's enthusiastic words didn't quite reach her tone as the half-sisters continued their trek through the snow. It was very late, well past midnight. The lantern-style flashlights they brought with them being the only source of light.

Yang adored her little sister. She was so optimistic, so pure. It never ceased to amaze the blonde how ruby was never sad for too long, or how quickly she could spread her contagious smile and brighten someone's day.

Ruby had smiled when Yang had gotten home from her slumber party. But for the first time in memory, it had been a forced one. And that had scared her.

Her father and Ruby had quickly told her the story about the mysterious Sasuke who had shown up out of nowhere to aid her little sister in a fight against a pack of Beowolves. He had stayed for dinner, went to bed, and come morning he was gone.

The only clue they had as to what happened had been an oddly-shaped and proportioned knife that her weapon-obsessed sister had immediately identified as one that was designed to be thrown. All of them had been amazed at how sharp it was, putting even Crescent Rose to shame, but the implications it brought were not ideal.

It was clear that Sasuke had decided to leave on his own free will, and had decided to leave the knife as a sign of either gratitude or payment.

For all three members of the family this was unacceptable. No matter what the circumstances there were unaware of regarding Sasuke's origin or destination, leaving the home of people who agreed to shelter you to walk to who knows where in the winter cold, and leave the host just _guessing_ if he was still alive or not was unthinkable.

If Yang ever found him she would be having **words** with him about how he had worried them, and her sweet and caring little sister in particular, so much with his little disappearing act.

None of them knew where Sasuke came from, but in Patch and in Vale people didn't just abandon each other without a word or let anyone go into the winter wilderness where hypothermia was a greater threat than Grimm.

All of them had done what they could to find him. Their father had made calls to Ozpin, Qrow, and several other colleagues multiple times to see if anyone had any leads. Ruby had made rather crude posters to see if anyone had found him, and Yang had searched the whole town and surrounding rural districts of Patch on Bumblebee three times. All of it had been in vain.

When it was clear Ruby was taking Sasuke's disappearance hard enough to start losing sleep, Yang had become alarmed. It was like looking in a mirror.

Ruby may have been too young to remember, but Yang recalled every emotion and thought with vivid and terrifying detail as ten years prior she had been obsessed with finding someone too. Yang had thrown everything else she had to the side in her single-minded quest to find her mother and she had come a hairs breath away from loosing everything she cared about as a result.

If her Uncle hadn't been there, she would have died. Ruby would have died. Her entire goal would have been in vain, and her family would have lost another two of its members. She would have been remembered as some stupid little girl who didn't know any better, and her beloved little sister would have had her life cut short because of her self-centered endeavor.

Yang hadn't given up on finding her mother. Far from it, she asked around whenever she could. But she had learned her lesson to not let her ambition destroy everything and everyone else she cared about.

The blonde thought it was likely they were wasting their time looking for Sasuke- the chances of finding him were where the phrase 'needle in a haystack' came from. But the odds didn't matter. She would do everything in her power to make sure Ruby did not follow the same path she almost died in. If that meant following her in the frozen wilderness in the middle of the night well past the time her father had told them to be home, she would do it without hesitation. She was Ruby's big sister, and she would shield her from danger and protect her at all cost. It was the least she could do after her failure to do so those long ten years ago.

"Sis, you think he's in there?"

Yang's thoughts were interrupted by Ruby pointing excitedly to a small cave on the base of a cliff.

"Well, one way to find out."

Even before they crossed the distance it was clear there was no one inside. It was a shallow cave, only about thirty feet from the caves' opening to its back.

"Great. Another dead end. Literally." Normally Yang would have fired off a signature pun at such an obvious set-up, but it was clear this was not the time for that.

"Wait, wait, wait! Look at this!"

Ruby directed Yang's attention to the floor of the cave about ten feet from the entrance.

' _A fire.'_ It was simple and small, surrounded by a ring of rocks. Multiple well-burned branches and logs were still visible in the middle along with copious amounts of pitch-black charcoal that had been half-spread by incoming gusts of wind.

"It's not that old, only a few days since it was made" Yang assessed upon squatting down to inspect it. "See all the ashes and stuff still in the center? The wind's blown some of it off, but there's a lot still where the actual fire was. If it had been here for a couple weeks or something the wind would have had more time to blow all of it out. And judging from the amount of wood used I'd say whoever made this only used it a few days before leaving."

"YES! It's Sasuke, it has to be! We can still find him!"

Her little sister's optimism was as contagious as always as Yang found herself forming a small smile. She wasn't enthusiastic about continuing to trek through the snow, but it was at least a lead.

Yang got up and walked to the entrance, directing her gaze to the remaining snow outside to see if he had left any tracks to follow. Her eyes widened in horror as she comprehended what she was seeing.

"Ruby…"

"Yeah, sis?"

The younger sibling made her way to the mouth of the cave to stand next to her sister before joining her in looking out toward the surrounding snow. It took Ruby a few seconds to comprehend what Yang was seeing, but once she did her blood turned to ice and instantly crushed any hopeful or optimistic thoughts.

The snow surrounding the cave more than a hundred yards out was flattened and packed solid. Rock solid, almost. Such snow out here could only be the result of being stepped on by large numbers of animals… or Grimm. And a brief inspection of the snow's surface revealed very faint traces of tracks- Grimm tracks. Beowolves, Ursa Minor and Major, Deathstalkers, every kind of Grimm they knew about that existed on Patch had too many footprints to count in the snow outside the cave. There were even a few spots where car-sized Nevermores had landed on the snow itself. Every Grimm they had fought so far had likely come from here.

The implication was obvious.

Tears began to drip from Ruby's face as she began to sink to her knees in despair.

"Sasuke… no…"

Her voice was barely more than a squeak. But Yang heard it.

Yang didn't bother trying to say anything. There was nothing she could say to make the pain go away.

Instead, she wordlessly wrapped her arms around Ruby in a comforting embrace. Silent support and sympathy were the only things she could offer.

Both sisters lost track of time as the younger of the two continued to shed her tears. The slowly dimming halo of their flashlights forced Yang to break the embrace before gently placing Ruby on her back in piggyback fashion. It should have been a happy, nostalgic moment that echoed their carefree youth when Yang had carried Ruby on her back as fast as she could to fight or catch whatever monsters or bad guys their innocent imaginations could conjure. But there was nothing happy about this occasion. Yang began to carry Ruby on their long trek home.

The thought of their Father's punishment and/or lecture for coming back at such an hour was at the back of Yang's mind. All she could think of was what this experience would do to her little sister.

Ruby was happy, innocent, and pure. Yang desperately wanted to keep her that way. Their Father had never been the same after Summer had died, he had lost some of his life that day. Despite the time that passed, it was clear the wound never truly healed. Yang Xiao Long prayed to whatever deity was listening to spare her sister such a fate.

Ruby by contrast, was thinking only of the friend she had probably lost. She had wanted to eventually talk to him, at least through a translator if nothing else. Ask about his weapon, where he was from, if he liked cookies, and other such trivial things that were objectively pointless but formed the bedrock for the bonds of companionship and friendship that people shared.

' _Sasuke, I hope you got out in time. If you're… still alive, still out there, I hope you stay safe.'_

* * *

No words were passed by anyone observing the spectacle. No, it wasn't a spectacle, it was a blasphemous impossibility. They simply had no way of articulating their shock and disbelief of what they were seeing. It was impossible, inconceivable! No laws of nature could explain what their eyes were showing them.

It had been a bit over an hour since Sasuke had begun his initiation. At one shot every minute, he had gone through 62 shots in that time. All the while, he kept bouncing the basketball without a single error, not even pausing for when he took another shot.

Nothing, absolutely nothing had happened. No slurring, no impaired motor functions, no loss of balance, no change in pace with his dribbling. Absolutely **nothing**.

Miltia poured the last drop of Vodka from the bottle into the final shot glass with a look of overwhelming awe and amazement.

Sasuke took the shot glass with no hesitation, swallowed it down without so much as a hiccup, and placed the glass face down next to the previous one.

That was it. Sasuke Uchiha had downed a full growler of Devil Springs Vodka by himself.

It was impossible for anyone watching him to tell, but Sasuke could tell he was ever-so slightly tipsy. Five seconds later, however, the sensation was gone. Replaced by the razor-sharp senses and thoughts of his sober mind.

He hadn't cheated, he had simply exploited one of the lesser-known fruits of his training with Orochimaru.

The sannin had developed training methods for making subjects immune to almost all poisons. It was incredibly useful given how popular poisons were amongst shinobi. If wielded properly a shinobi with access to poison could fell an enemy much more powerful than themselves with the smallest of cuts. Depending on the poison used it could be made and used extremely cheaply, making it an extremely common threat both on and off the frontlines.

The process to give him poison immunity had been a grueling and miserable process, even by Sasuke's standards. It had taken months of injections of various kinds of poisons in non-lethal doses among other things to achieve the results he wanted- but they had been worth it.

There were several factors that made his immunity possible, and amongst them were tailor-conditioned liver and kidneys; the organs that were responsible for detecting, isolating, neutralizing, and excreting any toxic substances in the body. The organs had been trained to superhuman levels by Orochimaru's immunity regimen; designed, forged, and polished by the heavens themselves for all intents and purposes.

They were so effective in fact, that they were capable of neutralizing **all** toxic substances at rates and efficiencies that most mortals would deem ludicrous. And alcohol, technically being a toxin in and of itself to the body, was also subdued at the same incredible rate. Sasuke's body could effectively process and metabolize alcohol almost faster than he could drink it. He would die from hyperhydration before he lost any motor function.

The Uchiha had been at a loss for words when the Sannin had confessed to him that before he abandoned Konoha, he had taken part in various drinking contests after his immunity had taken hold to earn a little extra money to pay for some of his laboratory supplies.

The words 'Orochimaru' and 'drinking contest' were never ones the Uchiha thought he would hear in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence. But he had been proven wrong.

His new colleagues had been proven wrong too. The most generous amongst them had guessed over an order of magnitude off the end result.

Quite done with their little game, the Uchiha stood up and lightly tossed the ball to Junior. The man looked like a fish slowly opening and closing its mouth, still processing what had just occurred. The Uchiha walked up and took the envelope containing his fake identity from the man's hand.

"Give me a call with my schedule when you get it, I'll be around."

The Uchiha turned around and left without another word. He had spent enough time here as it was.

There was another reason for his exit. His body could metabolize and process alcohol with unbelievable speed, but that didn't mean what was left of it wasn't still there. His bladder was already starting to protest; not at all amused by the overwhelming quantity of fluid sent its way. He was going to have to take a hell of a piss in a few minutes. Still, the amusing looks his onlookers had started to give him as his initiation continued on was worth it.

Junior's staff only looked on in bewilderment as their new colleague walked out the door without so much as a misplaced step.

"He's an alien."

Everyone turned to the lone henchman that had broken the silence.

"What? All of you are thinking it! Never mind the catching a bullet with his bare hands thing, there's no way in hell any living thing on the face of Remnant could pull that off!"

"Aliens are ridiculous, why the hell would an alien cross the galaxy just to work at a damn nightclub!? He's clearly a superior life form designed by the government to be a super-soldier that can fight Grimm!"

Junior only looked on as his henchmen, as well as Melanie and Miltia, started to argue and offer ever-more outlandish theories.

' _I wonder if I can persuade him to come to a drinking contest or two? Should be some easy money.'_

* * *

 **AN: Aaand done! Whew, this chapter went on way longer than I had planned.**

 **I improvised a lot when describing the nature and mechanics of seals, there isn't that much information regarding their details anywhere from what I looked at. Hope it all kind of makes sense, I wanted at least one section going through the difficulty Sasuke was facing trying to make one from scratch.**

 **For those of you who liked the Ruby/Yang part of the chapter, you have Fanfictions4ever to thank for it. Thank him/her with chocolate and Christmas joy. I hadn't even considered putting anything with either of them in until they met Sasuke again (For those of you who think this is a spoiler, it's not. It's not a spoiler if it's obvious), but they made the suggestion and I figured it would add some perspective on their character as well as some closure with their beginning storyline. And I needed something to put in between the beginning and ending of Sasuke's drinking challenge to build up a bit of drama. So, I thought why the hell not?**

 **Besides, I think taking suggestions from reviewers is a good policy in general. If you think a suggestion has a chance of being put in writing, it only provides more encouragement to review in the first place.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the interaction between Sasuke and the twins. Not gonna lie, a lot of that back and forth and their respective impressions I just came up with on the fly, so I'm hoping it came out all right without being too corny with the blatantly similar thoughts Sasuke and the twins respectively had regarding each other.**

 **As for the drinking thing, that idea was all yours truly. In my humble opinion, it was a moment of brilliance. I'm not sure if the whole poison immunity actually works that way in canon, but screw it. My story, my rules. Sasuke is a serious character, so I wanted to thrown in something a bit more light-hearted in there somewhere.**

 **Please review, it makes my day!**


	7. Butterfly Effect

**AN: So, finally got this out. Longest chapter yet!**

 **Hope you all had a happy new year, I did!**

 **Glad to hear the Malachite twin's interaction and the Sasuke alcohol thing I wrote were well received- those was my favorite scenes to write by far.**

 **Kaioo: I know it's not impossible to be over six feet when you're sixteen or seventeen, I was six foot one when I was that age. But in my personal opinion RWBY overdoes it, and not for any meaningful reason from what I can tell. I just changed it as a personal preference on my part, I guess.**

 **KnightofZaku: You might have to wait to see if you're right on those predictions, but you might like the first part of this chapter.**

 **Danish78: Thanks for the positive reinforcement with the sealing and club scenes- I worked very hard on those. I will point out that you're wrong that if you bleed your skin must be punctured. That's true for the outer layer of skin that's made up of dead skin cells. That layer has no blood supply, so any injury to just that layer isn't going to bleed. The layers of skin underneath it, however, are made of living skin cells with their own nerves, capillaries, and blood vessels. So it you break through the outer layer and halfway through the second layer, you will have a painful and bleeding injury of some degree without breaking through the skin's complete depth. As for your comments about the twins and Neo, just you wait.**

 **NightmareKnight1: I can't get rid of you? Well if you're going to be here anyway, I guess I had better stop trying so hard…**

 **TimothyBurr: Hey, if there's a reason to start crazy conspiracy theories I'd say a teenager drinking enough vodka to kill a buffalo would be a good one.**

 **The Baz: Could you do me a solid and remind me of the second sentence in you Chapter 6 review (When you hopefully review this chapter)? I have an idea that I don't want to forget about.**

 **Reasonable Man: Technology is going to play a part later on. As for the whole firearms thing, I have a pretty good idea in mind for how chakra will work as protection compared to aura. It was a pain in the ass to come up with considering the ludicrous inconsistencies with durability seen in the Narutoverse, but I have something pretty solid I think.**

 **Fanfictions4ever: Don't mention it, my story was better because of you. A thank you is the least I can give you. By the way, I should thank you for the scene separation idea too.**

 **alaude hibari: Dude, calm down. The chapter is here. If you or someone else wants to make a reaction fic, go at it bro. Hell, I'm flattered you'd consider the idea. Just let me know that name of the author and story and I'll be the first to review it. They probably should contact me before they start writing though- there's a few rather important spoilers and future details that will be relevant.**

 **Croniklerx: Love them long reviews! Fixed the sentence error you mentioned- can't believe that slipped through the cracks. Shadow clones could be used to help with the seal, but keep in mind if the seal doesn't work he's just wasted chakra to not only to power the seal but also to make the clones to begin with.**

 **I'm sorry but I can't really tell you anything regarding the direction the story is going without MASSIVE spoilers, so you're going to have to be patient.**

 **I've never played Prototype and don't know what it is. I came up with 'bloody confetti' all by my lonesome. But if Prototype has that it sounds interesting.**

 **Nice to hear you like Mr. Slate and Violet so far. Maybe you'll see more of them?**

 **Prism123: Oh, I plan to make the Reunion between Sasuke and Ruby a property-destroying event.**

 **crimson11116: He doesn't really need easy cash now, but I do like the idea of Sasuke and poker…**

 **blankdead: Always great to hear from you. Hope you enjoy this one! Had to do a lot of thinking and some background research to make this one.**

 **Iskandar Hero: If you liked the Ruby-Yang scene last chapter you may be pleased with this one too.**

 **Jotaro: I have not seen Watchman; I'll have to YouTube that scene.**

 **AzazelTheFallen: Oh, Orochimaru is still there alright. Not gonna spoil anything, but the guy is still there.**

' _thoughts'_

* * *

 **XXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Uchiha of Remnant**

Chapter 7: Butterfly Effect

Fighting was something she had trained most of her life for. She went to school to learn it, and she had thought it would be how she achieved her goal in life at protecting others. Ruby had fought Grimm before, but looking back it had been little more than a very realistic video game for her. She had real motivation behind herself, sure, but the enemies she faced were so much weaker than her that there was no real danger. Even when she considered that she was far stronger than most people, and these same Grimm would tear through civilians effortlessly in a bloody massacre, it hadn't really clicked that the profession she was aspiring to was either dangerous or risky.

She had heard of her mother's fate, but the fact that Summer had died so soon after Ruby's birth meant that the girl had very few memories of her. For all intents and purposes, Summer Rose was a familiar stranger to Ruby. The true emotional impact of what had happened to her mother had been softened by lack of connection the mother and daughter had- cut short by Summer's early death.

That had changed now. Ruby had not known Sasuke for long. But she had shaken his hand, her and her father had shared their home and hospitality to him, he had taken the trouble to help her battle Grimm even if his help had been ultimately unneeded.

But unlike Summer she didn't need to look at old family photos to remember what he looked like. He had been a real person in her life.

Now he was probably dead. She had been hoping that he had escaped, but the events surrounding her now made that possibility extremely unlikely.

She had failed to save someone. And the Grimm's mindless quest for death and destruction was to blame.

It was for that reason among others that Ruby was swinging Crescent Rose at the nearest Beowolf with greater force than necessary to kill it before targeting one of the dozens more surrounding her.

For the first time in her life Ruby was fighting not out of a sense of duty or protection, but anger. She wanted to kill all the Grimm that came her way, and she wanted to make it painful.

The other reason for why Ruby was fighting with more determination than usual was where she was currently facing the Grimm.

It wasn't on her way to or from visiting her mom, it was in the back field of Signal Academy.

No one knew how, but a large group of Grimm had managed to meander through the forests to the west to find themselves here. The students and faculty, many of whom had been having their lunch at the time, had all stared at the group of monsters for a few seconds with a classic deer-in-the-headlights look in utter shock that humanity's sworn enemy was standing right outside their doors with no warning.

As the Grimm rushed forward to attack everything that moved and walked on two legs the shock gave way to steely determination and resolve. All of the faculty and Huntsmen and Huntresses in training rushed to either get their weapons or make do with whatever objects lying around they could find.

Ruby and Yang had both had a lunch period at the time, but had been fortunate enough to have their weapons on them. They had decided to take Ember Celica and Crescent Rose with them to their meal so they wouldn't have to leave lunch early to return to their lockers to get them for next period. It had saved them a lot of trouble.

Yang had thrown her gauntlets on and jumped through a glass wall to blitz the closest Ursa, which was clotheslined into the ground before the blonde beat the creature's skull with four punches that crushed it into an unrecognizable prune.

But that was tame compared to what Ruby had in store.

The Grimm standing outside the school was seen a threat by everyone else, but not for Ruby. To her, they were mocking her and everything she stood for.

They had killed her new friend Sasuke, and had decided to continue their march to slaughter more people she cared about. And they were going to try and do it right in front of her eyes.

She shot forward with her semblance to attack at far greater speed than any of the Grimm would be capable of blocking. The first Beowolf was bisected at the waist, the second beheaded, the third split in half from groin to shoulder. All had been killed with a shrill cry of anger.

And she kept going. The rest of her classmates and teachers were far behind, her semblance leading her further away from her allies who could not keep up with her advance. In desperation Yang had use Ember Celica's recoil to shoot herself above the line of Grimm in front of her to join her sister.

Ruby continued killing, her normal fluid dance of whirling slashes enhanced in both speed and power by the raw emotion of anger fueling her movements. All sense of teamwork and strategy had been buried by rage and anguish.

Another swing, another death.

A quick spin to bury the end of her scythe into the gut of an Ursa, then a shot from her sniper rifle to push the blade to exit the body, toppling the creature like a mutated tree cut by a lumberjack.

Ruby turned toward the next target in front of her, but only made it halfway before the wounded Ursa swiped her legs with its closest paw. The creature was injured and crippled- but unlike the hundreds of Grimm she had faced before it did not go down with a single hit.

Ruby had no time to consider why the Ursa had enough durability to temporarily withstand her assault and counterattack before she was brought out of her rage by the horrifying realization that she had lost her footing.

She wasn't a hard-hitting tank like her sister, who would be fine with taking a few hits in the same situation before counterattacking with overwhelming force. For a fighter such as Ruby who primarily utilized speed, losing her battle-winning mobility even for a few seconds could be disastrous.

Fortunately her sister was there to crush the skull of the fallen Ursa before launching blasts from her gauntlets at two Beowolves about to pounce on Ruby.

Like the Ursa Ruby had attacked earlier, Yang couldn't help but notice the two Grimm were able to survive the shotgun blasts. She had thought the tougher than average Grimm she had fought with Ruby before they had found the abandoned cave had just been a one-off event, but she was now forced to consider the fact that something bigger than just a random occurrence was going on.

She pushed her thoughts on the matter to the back of her mind- reaching down to help Ruby stand back up and stand back to back against the wall of Grimm closing in on them.

The Grimm would not get their chance. The school staff and armed students present had finally caught up to the siblings' position and began overwhelming the pack with sheer numbers.

Even without Ruby and Yang's lopsided performances, the battle was won before it began. Signal was staffed by either retired Hunters or combat veterans looking for an easier and safer part-time job. Not to mention the hundreds of students there. They may have not had anywhere near the experience or the power of professional Hunters yet, but with the exception of the first-years not many of them could really be called weak.

Ten minutes later, the student body and all faculty stood victorious on the lawn. Apart from the crowd of teenagers sat Ruby and Yang on a small bench, who were less joyous at the news that their afternoon classes had been cancelled than their schoolmates.

An awkward air surrounded the two of them; neither sure what to say to address the elephant in the room. It was a stark contrast to the warm and mirthful familiarity they usually shared.

"Yang," Ruby began, holding Crescent Rose tighter to her body, "I'm… sorry. I don't know what happened back there."

"Are you planning to jump straight in the middle of a pack of Grimm when I'm not around too?"

The younger sibling winced at the statement- not used to such harsh rebuttals from her normally optimistic and supportive sister.

"Ruby, I know exactly what happened back there. I know why you charged in by yourself without waiting for me or anyone else to catch up. And I think you know the answer too."

Ruby hung her head in shame. She should have stayed on the outside of the Grimm pack and work her way in to minimize the chances of being outflanked, as her Uncle had taught her. But in the instant she had seen the pack outside her school those lessons and strategies were thrown out the window. The burning desire to destroy the enemies outside that were determined to kill her and everyone she cared about replacing all logical thought.

"I was angry" Ruby admitted. "I was so mad! I always knew they were a threat, but I guess it never really hit me until now what that actually meant."

Yang slung her arm over her sibling as Ruby began to tremble with her onslaught of emotion.

"I was scared. So scared… They were going to try and kill you and everyone else here! Just like they did to Sasuke… to Mom…" silver eyes began to tear as Ruby's true feelings bubbled up to the surface.

"They would have done it to you too Ruby! How do you think having my little sister die in front of me would make me feel?"

Tears began to fall from lilac eyes, joining the drops on the ground produced from their silver counterparts.

"How do you think Dad would handle that? He's already lost both your mom and mine. Losing you would break him… and it would break me too."

Ruby slowly lifted her head. She wasn't ready to look Yang in the eye quite yet, but her vision still had the privilege of including most of her peers and teachers in front of her. Some of the staff were on their scrolls telling either their loved ones or their superiors about the incident. Students rapidly discussing who had killed more Grimm during the battle or discussing what they would do with the rest of their day now that school would let them out several hours early.

Ruby Rose had been called innocent and naïve before, but that didn't stop her from having an epiphany that many other people of higher IQ but lesser in understanding of their fellow humanity would fail to grasp.

' _They are all alive. They are all happy. They all survived.'_

The pain of loss she was feeling, the anger at the monsters that had removed people she cared about from this world, was not felt by those in front of her. Many of them had lost loved ones to the cruel and merciless Grimm, but they were victorious today and surrounded by their family and friends.

Some people would feel separated from their community over such an insurmountable empathic gap, but Ruby had a different emotion running through her when she realized she and her sister were the only ones present suffering from the pain of loss.

Happiness. Relief.

Ruby couldn't stop the warmth spreading from her heart and a genuine smile come to her face when she realized that everyone else was safe and not everyone had to suffer through the pain of loss that she and Yang had.

"Yang," she began, turning her head to address her sister eye to eye, "thank you for being there for me."

Yang turned to look at Ruby, hearing the dramatic positive shift in tone. Her eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw her sister with tears still falling down her cheeks around the most heart-warming smile she had seen from her younger sister in a long time.

"I know now how painful it is to lose someone important. I didn't think of that when I charged in there." Ruby affectionately grabbed Yang's hand firmly before continuing, "I promise, I will never forget that again."

The words were delivered with uncharacteristic stern resolve that Ruby somehow managed to mix in with an antithesis of sisterly tenderness and compassion. Yang knew without having to ask that Ruby knew exactly what she was saying, and meant every word.

Ruby scarcely had time to react even with her extraordinary reaction time as the blonde encircled her in loving arms.

"I'm so proud of you, sis. It took me a lot longer to learn that lesson."

Ruby hugged her back as the two siblings settled themselves in a comforting embrace.

"I love you, Ruby. So much…"

"…I love you too."

It had been a harsh lesson, but Ruby Rose learned to not sacrifice the present to save the past.

' _I'm going to be a Huntress. It's not easy or safe, but it's worth it to see the people around me safe and happy. I still have them to live for. Mom gave her life so I and everyone else would have a better chance to live theirs. And Sasuke helped me fight those Grimm when he hadn't needed to. We spoke different languages, but he still helped someone that was a stranger to him because it was the right thing to do.'_

Ruby hugged Yang tighter, reminding herself of what and who she still had.

' _I am not going to remember Sasuke or Mom as just people I lost. I am going to remember them as two brave people who set the best example for me I could possibly ask for."_

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A sickening crunch was heard as the latest victim, a somewhat average-built but very tall man, was struck in the head with an elbow strike. He went down without pause, his newfound unconsciousness preventing him from trying to bring his arms up to catch his fall.

" **Oh, and another one has gone down! Not looking too good for the challengers!"**

They never had a chance to begin with. The remaining two combatants, though furious at their one-sided humiliation, could see the writing on the wall.

They gave a half-hearted charge, trying to come at their target from opposing directions so at least one of them would land a hit.

The first was punched in the gut with enough force to stop his forward motion dead and remove the air from his lungs before he was then grabbed and thrown into his partner. The two tumbled back in a confused mess before their motion brought them to the edge of the arena. The two were allowed to shakily return to their feet before a leg performing a flawless midair side kick smashed directly into their foreheads.

The two combatants were knocked out before they hit the floor adjacent to each other. The referee didn't bother with a countdown as he called the match for the one fighter still standing with an aloof expression on his face as though he had just taken a walk.

" **And Taka is the last man standing! Our champion is too much to handle for even six fighters at once!"**

' _Six? Is that number supposed to translate to an advantage for them? Six times zero is still zero.'_

It was an arrogant thought on Sasuke's part that echoed his words to Naruto at the start of their battle at the Final Valley. A bit too arrogant considering how close that fight had been. Although considering the opponents he had just defeated, such overdeveloped confidence was not too misplaced. His adversaries had neither aura nor chakra, nor any comparable training or raw combat experience.

It was because of the gap between himself and any potential opponent that Sasuke had actually requested for fights where he was at a numerical disadvantage. It was simply too boring for him one-on-one.

The Uchiha simply kept his neutral expression as his arm was raised in victory over the roar of the crowd. Overall, this didn't really concern him. He had acquired a fake ID for his hopefully short stay in this world that had already almost reached the three-week mark, as well as two jobs that were both bringing him enough income to pay basic living expenses with extra to spare. Even if by some miracle he was defeated in the ring and lost his position as Champion, Sasuke still had everything he needed. He was only staying employed with both Slate and Junior so he would have a back-up in the event his relations with one of them went south.

Ten minutes later, the Uchiha was reminded of the other reason why he kept his position here.

Slender feminine fingers dug into his exposed back with surprising strength and dexterity as their owner continued rubbing and kneading his muscles. Sasuke may have been a hardened shinobi, but he would be lying if he said it didn't feel damn good to get a massage.

He had uncharacteristically needed to take a shower first to clean off his sweat. He hadn't been pushed in the fight at all, but there were so many powerful stage lights on him as well as so much ambient body heat that his sweat glands had still seen fit to go to work.

"That was some nice work out there Sasuke, I was really impressed how fast you took those guys down. And on your second night on the job no less."

"Hn."

Despite the praise from his masseuse, Sasuke did not lower his guard. Any second now she would continue…

"Did you have to bribe them to throw the fight with money or did you have to get on your knees and open your mouth for them?"

There it was. She may have been a colleague on paper, but Shyla seemed to have made it her mission to try and get under his skin for some ridiculous reason. She was the same blonde who had taunted him with the classy 'your balls haven't dropped' comment when he had first walked toward the ring for his fight with BoneSaw. Perhaps she was still nursing a grudge from when he pushed her out of his path. Or maybe she had a thing going on with BoneSaw and his victory over him had been more personal than it otherwise would have been.

Alternatively, it could be a genetic trait. Shyla's appearance could be described in many ways. She was stacked in every sense of the word with an impressive bust and curves and had no trouble wearing the tight leather outfits that the cheerleaders here were fond of to show them off. But the trait that stuck out to Sasuke the most was her blue eyes and her natural, platinum blonde hair. It was tied back in a high ponytail similar to what Ino had, and was silky, shiny, and gorgeous. It was also attached to the cranium of someone with a similar-enough hair color and irrational stubborn streak compared to Naruto and Ino that Sasuke was forced to consider the possibility that blondes who personally knew him were somehow forced by their very genetic code to annoy him.

Every comment, every word toward him was either barbed and coated with insult or sarcasm or a setup for the former. Still, it was better than the alternative. The other female workers had made it their mission to try and be his favorite assistant for rather predictable reasons. They may not have been as childish and obnoxious as the girls at the Academy, but it was something he was still eager to avoid if he could help it. Shyla was the only female co-worker he would allow in his room specifically due to her lack of amorous intent. Her thorn-covered tongue was a small price to pay- he had dealt with far worse during his time with Orochimaru. If anything it was so routine to him it was almost a comfortably familiar presence.

"I would never dream of bribing anyone with lien or a blowjob. I would come up with something original instead of plagiarizing your methods" Sasuke calmly retaliated.

It was a low blow perhaps, but Sasuke was not in the habit of pulling verbal punches with blondes. Besides, he needed to get her a bit more upset. She wasn't using as much force with her hands on his back as he would have liked, and he needed her to have a good reason to try and escalate their verbal back-and-forth. She would no doubt counter in moments…

"Excuse me? I'll have you know I'm currently taking courses to be a licensed therapeutic massage therapist. You're lucky I'm the one in here fixing you up instead of some dumb bimbo who doesn't know how to use her hands on anything above the waist."

"Hn. Could have fooled me. With how forgettable your massage has been so far, I assumed you had done some kind of backroom deal to get the position. But if you say so…"

The bait was set and was taken immediately. Shyla's fingers dug into his back with almost double the force in an attempt to make him regret his statement.

She may have thought she was using enough strength to make this painful for him. Unfortunately for Shyla, she was now applying the exact force Sasuke wanted to relive the tension in his shoulders and upper back. All he had to do now was let out a fake wince of pain every minute or two and she would continue her now far more effective ministrations. Blondes may be stubborn, but there were extremely easy to manipulate.

"So Twinkletoes, I have a question for you."

Ah, yes. Her personal nickname for him. She had come up with it to mock his unheard-of footwork and agility in the ring as well as her theory that he played for the other team due to his lack of interest in her friendlier female colleagues. How she was stupid enough to believe that speed was a quality that should be ridiculed was beyond him. There were literally no conceivable situations he could think of that being slower than his opponent was a good thing.

He remained silent after her assertion. There was no need to indulge her, and he knew perfectly well she would ask whatever was on her mind anyway.

"You never work the crowd out there, you never say a word to any of your fans, and you never take the opportunity you know is available to bring in one of the other sluts who work here to get your dick wet. How did you end up with a skyscraper so far up your ass?"

"…It is neither your concern nor your business. But if it will make you shut your mouth, part of the reason is I have no reason to indulge in shallow and meaningless banter."

Shyla's face contorted into a genuinely confused look even if Sasuke was unable to see it lying face-down on the table.

"You must be a sight to behold at parties, Twinkletoes" she sarcastically asserted. "It wouldn't hurt you to show a little appreciation for your fans at least. They love you to death!"

At that Sasuke rose from his position to sit upright on the table, pre-emptively ending the massage as he turned to look at Shyla with a look that clearly expressed his disbelief at her words.

' _She cannot be serious. Could she really be that ignorant?'_

"Don't tell me you're stupid enough to believe those words. They do not care about me, much less love me."

"What? Surely your ears work well enough to hear them cheering for you. They can't get enough of y-!"

"They care about my victories. That is not the same as caring about me. The moment I lose a fight, all of their support will evaporate."

"You think they will forget about you just like tha-!?"

"How many of them care about BoneSaw now?" Shyla's retort was harshly interrupted by the Uchiha's blunt question. She closed her mouth as Sasuke continued. "How many of them are still his fans? How many of them would cheer his name if he came back?"

Shyla had no answer. She remembered very clearly how BoneSaw had been carried out on a stretcher after his loss. The cheers for Sasuke had been overwhelming, but it had not stopped the audience close to the fallen fighter from ignoring him at best and booing his loss at worst.

"Let me ask you a question Shyla," the Uchiha continued after a brief pause, pressing on with his cold and hard opinion on the matter, "what kind of attention do you get from guys when you do your little cheerleader routine out there, or when you go out for a drink downtown?"

Shyla did not need to answer the question nor did the Uchiha need her to answer it- the answer was obvious to both of them. She couldn't remember the last time she went out when she wasn't hit on less than three or four times an hour. She couldn't remember the last time she had to pay for more than half of her drinks.

"Do you honestly believe any of those guys give a damn about you? Do you think they will be giving you the same compliments twenty years from now?"

The implication of her age brought a spark of fury to her mind, but she did not reply. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew the answer.

"The moment I lose," Sasuke contended "I will be forgotten and replaced."

The Uchiha turned to the silent blonde, ready to conclude his argument.

"So tell me, why should I waste my time saying a word to people **that** fickle and cheap?"

Shyla only stared at him. There was nothing she could say in reply. The unpleasant truth was undeniable.

With that, Sasuke strode to his chair and began unwrapping a moderately-sized tupperware that contained what would essentially be his after-work meal. He had had dinner already, but staying up late with his job for Slate meant that he was hungry for a modest meal well before the point he would normally be having breakfast. There was food available for him here, but the Uchiha had scarcely taken a glance at the greasy fast food available before he had dismissed it as an option for satiating his hunger. Anything that processed and with that much saturated fat was less a food and more a slow-acting poison in Sasuke's opinion.

"Geez, you must be the most glass-half-full guy I've ever met" Shyla declared in a mockingly sarcastic tone.

"Hn."

An Uchiha grunt was all the blonde received as a reply as Sasuke began to eat the sushi he had prepared himself that was essentially his second dinner.

Being in another world meant that much of what he considered normal in the Elemental Nations was unknown here, and that included sushi. It was hardly as aesthetically pleasing to the eye as restaurant-grade dishes that had all of the fish pieces arranged in colorful flower-like patterns, but the Uchiha was not in the business of spending an extra half hour of his time to make his food nice to look at.

Procuring the fish and assorted seafood had been simple enough. Junior's Club was intricately organized and run with undeniably impressive quality and efficiency, but the kitchen that was run there was not quite up to the same standard even if it was more than good enough to meet food safety regulations. It was understandable; the entrance fees and drinks were how the club got most of its income. The food offered did not make even 10% of the total profits, and was only meant to keep clients at the club when they got hungry instead of closing their tabs and going somewhere else to keep their stomachs happy.

With the club's kitchen sidelined in such a manner, it was no wonder it was not run with the same care as the rest of the place. There were still inefficiencies with how it was run, and just about every night there were notable leftovers that were not consumed by customers and could not be kept in storage. So when Sasuke simply offered to take some of the unused rice and seafood with him, Junior had no reason to complain. It was a happy coincidence that much of the seafood, as well as meat, vegetables, and fruits in this world in general were the same as back home. He might have thought of committing suicide if tomatoes had not existed here.

As he took his first bite, Sasuke considered that he had perhaps gone too far in his rebuttal. Not that he cared about Shyla's feelings, but he did need her to be in a semi-good mood because he intended to try and ask a favor before he left tonight. She might reject his request out of spite if he pushed her too far.

Any thoughts of temporarily pleasing her with some off-handed compliment were replaced by thoughts of outrage and disbelief as Shyla proceeded to stick her hand directly into **his** dinner to remove a piece of tuna and pop it directly into her mouth. She stared straight into his face as she slowly chewed in a clear and successful attempt to piss him off.

"Mmmm, that's some good stuff. What is it?"

He was tempted to lie and tell her it was poison that made women permanently bald, but managed to hold his tongue. He still intended to ask for her help, but he was close to just flipping the metaphorical table if she was this hell-bent on antagonizing him. He settled for a 'if looks could kill' glare before replying.

"It's sushi, a type of seafood dish from my homeland that I made all by myself. For **me** to eat."

"Oh, that explains why it tastes so good. Homemade food always has that delicious personal touch" the blonde shamelessly replied, a subtle smirk of satisfaction visible as she proudly swallowed what was meant to be his sustenance. "It tastes different from fish I've tried before, mildly sour but still has plenty of flavor. How is it cooked?"

"It isn't."

Shyla's eyes immediately widened as she comprehended what he said.

"…What?"

"The fish isn't cooked, it's raw. It's frozen, then mixed with vinegar-soaked rice to give it flav-"

"You made me eat fucking RAW meat!? What kind of dumbass are you? Have you ever heard of salmonella or fucking Tapeworms!?"

"You can't get any of those things from fish that have been frozen you moron!" the Uchiha yelled back, having had quite enough of her yelling non-existent problems in his ear. It was uncharacteristic of him to raise his voice, but he would make an exception for blondes.

He would have continued, but at that point Shyla had actually tried to reach over his body and grab his dinner. He could only assume she would try and throw it out the window or something, so he was forced to stand up and place single forearm right above her breasts and below her collarbone to hold her off and use his other one to hold the tupperware up above her reach.

"And why are you blaming me for feeding you this? You're the one who took a piece without even aski-!"

"Give me that shit! It's not safe to eat!"

"Yes it is! It was a common dish back home and I've eaten it all my life! Would it kill you to shut up and listen!?"

It apparently would as she continued to try and steal his food, disregarding all of his words. Shyla was smart enough to realize she stood no chance of taking it with Sasuke defending it so effectively, and was forced to resort to other measures.

"Would you just calm down alrea-!"

The Uchiha's eyes widened in shock and his plea for diplomacy died in his throat as Shyla reached one of her hands underneath his arm and actually had the audacity to **tickle** him in a fierce attempt to get him to lower the tupperware enough for her to steal it.

It was unbelievably childish and desperate of her. Nevertheless, it did exploit a weakness of his. Despite his uncaring demeanor, it was to Sasuke's eternal shame that he was indeed ticklish. He had had the same weakness as a child that his mother, Itachi, and Shisui had all exploited shamelessly. It was apparently a genetic trait he was cursed with to the end of his days whether he liked it or not. It was simple enough to train to ignore it no problem, but the fact he had to actually divert mental effort to keep himself from breaking out laughing in front of a blatant assault was utterly galling to him.

He could **not** crack a smile in front of Shyla of all people in this situation- even if he succeeded in saving his dinner he would never hear the end of it. He was getting near the point of throwing manners and chivalry out the window and just shoving her off him.

"Get off me you stubborn little bra-!"

"Am I interrupting something?"

The Uchiha and the blonde froze in their positions as they slowly turned to Mr. Slate, who had just opened the door.

Sasuke and Shyla glanced back at each other for a moment before realizing with horror how they must have appeared to him.

It was almost a carbon-copy of the common family scenario of an older sibling holding something out of reach of the younger one, with the latter resorting to tickling or some other physical methods to force the older one's hand.

"I-It- It's not what it looks like!" Shyla declared with a face flushed red with embarrassment at the rather amusing position they were caught in as they took a step back from each other. "Tell him to throw that worm-ridden crap he brought out! That meat isn't cooked at all!"

"It. Is. Fish. How many times do I have to tell you it's impossible to get worms from it?"

"Both of you calm down!" Slate interjected, realizing he would have to play the role of peace-keeper if he wanted to find out what the hell just happened. He wasn't sure what started this, but it wouldn't be good for him if Sasuke and Shyla continued to butt heads.

Fortunately after hearing both sides of the story it was clearly nothing too serious- he had seen far worse conflicts and scandals. This one was absent of sex and money- child's play in comparison.

"Well Ms. Hopkins, you'll be happy to know that Mr. Uchiha is correct that fish is far safer to eat than poultry or any land-based meat, and you will not be getting a Salmonella infection or anything of the like. It's actually a rather common practice among Huntsmen to eat raw fish they catch if they find themselves low on food and don't have time to cook it. Seafood in general is different enough from terrestrial meat such as beef or pork that any internal parasites they may carry are incompatible with humans and have no effect."

Shyla simply crossed her arms, refusing to meet the unmistakable 'I told you so' look the Uchiha was giving her.

"Do you mind if I have a taste, Mr. Uchiha? I must confess I've never heard of fish being formerly prepared this way before and am rather curious."

Sasuke simply lifted the tupperware to him as a silent approval. He had had enough of pointless conflicts for one day to bother objecting.

"Mmm… It's very good. It's not very common to find a meat that's pleasing to the palate when it's chilled like this, but I must admit this is an exception. Where did you learn to make this?"

"It's a common dish from my home village. There were other ways to prepare it, like wrapping it in seaweed or thin bread to make the bites more manageable. The flavor and texture can vary greatly depending on what meat is used."

"Very interesting…"

The Uchiha became increasingly wary as it became obvious the gears in his employer's head had started moving and brought his hand to his chin in contemplation.

"Sasuke, do you mind if I make a few calls to some friends about this? I know several people in high places in the restaurant business and I think they may greatly appreciate such an original dish."

' _Selling the idea to them for a price no doubt. Not exactly unexpected. But it may draw unneeded attention if it's revealed I came up with it.'_

It was immediately apparent to Sasuke that he was in a slight dilemma here. Slate was not the worst business owner around by a long shot, and from what he could see treated his workers and partners quite fairly. That didn't mean, however, that he would avoid moral grey areas to increase his revenue. Not breaking the law to avoid legal trouble was not the same thing as cutting corners.

Slate would give the idea to his associates for a price with or without Sasuke's permission- it was too good an opportunity to pass up. When Sasuke found out, he would likely claim he had been drunk with his friends and had just happened to leak the information. Even if Sasuke left in retaliation, the money Slate made from his resulting restaurant deal would be more than enough to compensate him for Sasuke's loss. Sasuke would then be unable to come forward with a lawsuit due to his fake identity; something Slate was well aware of.

If Sasuke wanted to get something out of this, he would have to make a deal now. He would not be getting a better hand in this situation.

"Make whatever deal you want with them. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that I can't have my name formally involved in any of this. But if they want my help in assisting them with how to safely prepare this without the food safety bureaucrats breathing down their neck every ten minutes I am going to ask for ten percent of the gross profit."

Sasuke may have been trying to get home as quickly as possible, but he had seen enough of this new world to want to try a few things before he left. One glance at a motorcycle was all it took for him to want one, if only to ride it to clear his head when he reached a snag creating the Reverse Summoning. The extra money this would bring him was enough to make the purchase, especially considering he didn't need to bother saving for anything in the long-term.

And ten percent wasn't a huge chunk anyway. Slate would no doubt want a fraction for himself, and it would be down to negotiating with all of his associates to get a concrete deal. Sasuke could afford to lower his cut a percentage point or two- he didn't need a ridiculous amount.

Slate smiled pleasantly in response. "Excellent! I'll make the calls first thing in the morning. The timing couldn't be better either, with spring and summer coming up, a cold snack like this has a lot of potential. Especially on the shoreline stands for the tourists during this year's beach season. I need to call…"

Slate began to walk out the door, mumbling to himself about the finer details of his newest endeavor.

The Uchiha slowly turned to the only other person in the room, who had remained uncharacteristically silent for the past few minutes.

"Not a word, Twinkletoes."

She had her arms crossed and still refused to face him. Unwilling to give an inch of ground or admit any error on her part.

' _Well I suppose now is a better time than any to ask. The odds of her agreeing were never great to begin with, and I don't see how I could get her in a more agreeable mood after that, so I may as well try now and see where it goes.'_

"So Shyla, seeing as how you started that whole fight for no reason," her hands clenched her arms as she was unwillingly reminded of her error, "I don't think it's unfair for me to ask you for a favor."

Blue eyes whipped around to drill into their onyx counterparts in confusion and shock at the audacity of the statement. He was going to ask her for a favor after that?

"If you think I'm going to finish your massage now, you have got another thing comi-!"

"It's not about the massage, it's about my other job."

"Your bouncer job at Junior's place? Why in the world would you need anything from me there?"

The blonde's mood turned away from stubborn and confrontational to genuine curiosity and confusion. Whatever he needed her there for must be very interesting for him to resort asking her of all people for help.

"As I'm sure you are aware, I get more attention from women and… some men, than I would care for."

"Oh, I know. The look on your face when Big Joe hit on you last week before your match was priceless!"

He did remember that. And like many things in his life it seemed, he would not have the luxury of forgetting it anytime soon. Sasuke thanked whatever deities in this world that Shyla hadn't been in his room when Joe had paid him a visit _after_ he had beaten him in their match. The things he had said… the things he had _offered_ before the Uchiha had kicked him out of his room…

He would never admit it to another soul before or after his death, but he had been legitimately creeped out to the point of considering tucking his tail between his legs and just sprinting out of the building.

Shyla seemed to think it was very funny, chuckling at the sight of the Uchiha gritting his teeth at the memory.

"Yes, I'm sure it was. Anyway, I have a similar problem at Junior's. It seems that after women have a few too many drinks, they suddenly lose their ability to read the 'Employees Only' signs that are clearly visible on the velvet rope barrier that I like to stand behind to watch the dance floor, and they come up to talk to me, try to dance with me, and various other things I do not wish to discuss with you."

"Oh, no!" she cried, throwing her hands to the sides of her face and widening her eyes in mock surprise and shock, "You have drunk women going through barricades to hit on you! The horror! The agony you face! What is this world coming to!?"

She finished her speech with a fake swoon, going so far as to dramatically fall on the couch behind her in a classic fainting motion.

"I've avoided that problem here for the most part because I have my own room. In addition, as long as you are my only female assistant I allow in, most of them are under the mistaken impression I've taken a liking to you. And as such, have stopped their advances."

Shyla's aggressive, dig-her-heels-into-the-ground attitude helped with this as well. Many women wouldn't care if they thought he was taken, they would hit on him regardless. But Shyla was contentious and intimidating enough to convince most people that going through her to get something was not worth the effort. Not to mention she could throw a decent punch for a civilian- earlier that night had been a women's fighting special that she had absolutely dominated.

"I think I know where you're heading with this."

She slowly rose from the couch, wearing a grin on her face that would not have looked out of place on a cat that had learned the birdcage in its house had not been locked. The Uchiha was already starting to regret asking her to do anything- she was going to milk this for all it was worth.

"You want me to accompany you on your workdays so other girls will leave you alone. Is that about right?"

The Uchiha only nodded in response.

"I have to ask, why can't you get those twins who work there to do that? Don't tell me your other colleagues don't care about you enough to help you in your time of need."

"I work an alternating schedule with Melanie and Miltia now that Junior trusts me enough to handle the job by myself. Most weekdays except Mondays aren't too busy, but I think your presence tomorrow night would make it easier for me to do my job."

Sasuke had to make sure he didn't have a slip of the tongue here and mention out loud it would make his time there more bearable. There were several ways for her to exploit that information and none of them were to his benefit.

If she thought this would make him feel better, she would drop his offer without hesitation just so she could see his frustration.

"Hmmm. I suppose I _could_ go along with that," Shyla replied, putting a single finger underneath her chin in exaggerated contemplation, "I don't have anything planned yet for tomorrow night anyway…"

She wasn't going for it without some other compensation from him. The tone of her voice practically screaming at him that she was going to follow up with the words, 'but I want something else from you before I agree'.

"But I want something else from you before I agree."

' _And there it is.'_

"It would only be on Saturdays when the twins aren't helping me already as well as occasional Mondays. Two nights a week at most, and I can get you a 50% discount on all your drinks."

He had to keep her help and by extension his compensation to her to a minimum. He had already discussed his idea with Junior, who had been kind enough to agree if he could pass the deal. He had seen Sasuke borderline assaulted by non-sober patrons a few nights ago when the twins weren't around to dissuade them and was fully onboard with the idea of a 'buffer girl' for him, for lack of a better term.

"No deal, Twinkletoes. There's some fine print you forgot to mention. If I'm going to be your pretend plus-one and be around to shoot down any girls coming your way, I'll have to limit my drinks anyway so I can be sober enough to come to your rescue. Cheap alcohol is only meaningful if you get a lot of it. And if I'm with you I won't be able to hang out with anyone else or try my luck finding a good boyfriend since my last one dumped me for some swimsuit model slut. If I accept a drink or dance with someone else it will blow the entire cover."

The Uchiha began brainstorming ideas for what else he could offer her, which wasn't much. Beat up that ex of hers? That might work…

"So in short," the blonde continued, "you want me to stand next to you and have the same… optimistic conversations we've had here for roughly eight hours while I watch other people have fun. I'm going to need something else from you to make this a fair deal."

"And what would that be? You've clearly thought of what you want already."

Shyla slowly sauntered over to the table holding the tuna sushi before taking yet another piece of his dinner that he **had not made to share with her** and throwing it in her mouth. The nerve of this girl was almost beyond belief.

"I want you to make me ten lunch's worth of these every week."

"What?" He could do that no problem, but it was still surprising that she wanted him to make her meals of all things as compensation.

"You heard me. I live alone with my little brother. He's in Seventh grade, and I don't always have time to make him nice lunches for school with the massage classes and my other job as a waitress I have to juggle. So, I think making him his lunch and saving me the trouble is a fair trade."

"Fine."

"Good. Just for the record, I'm not going to be your shadow for the whole night. If I see anyone I know I'll hang out with them close enough to where I can see you and intervene if you need a rescue line. And that 50% had better be good for the whole night."

"It will be. Can you explain why exactly you need ten lunches if your brother only needs five to get him through the school week?"

"Oh, the rest are for me. These do taste pretty good, and I'm still mad at you for not telling me in advance they were safe to eat raw. So that's my compensation."

The Uchiha immediately whirled around to face his unjust accuser.

"You took them without aski- forget it. You don't care anyway."

"Now you get it!"

With that the blonde once again took something of his without permission by swiping his scroll from the table before opening it up.

"What are you doing now? Haven't you violated my property enough?"

"I'm giving you my number. That way you can text me when you finish making my lunches **tomorrow** so you can deliver them before I go out with you as your 'plus one'. You don't expect me to show up at the club for our little agreement without some proof you'll keep your end of the deal?"

"…Hn." He was done talking with her- no need to respond and stoke the fire again. He pocketed his scroll when Shyla was done entering the digits before grabbing his bag and began reaching for the tupperware containing what was left of his meal.

"Alright then Twinkletoes, I will see you tomorrow night."

To the Uchiha's utter amazement, shock, and rage, she then grabbed and ate the last piece of sushi from his now empty tupperware before he could reach it. She then proceeded to throw the now empty plastic container none-too-gently at him as a final middle finger before he left.

"Has anyone ever told you to ask permission before taking other people's stuff?"

"All the time. I just ignore them though."

Sasuke simply stared at her as though she were the most clueless person on the face of the earth.

"…I still can't believe your last boyfriend broke up with you. Why didn't that work out exactly?"

"Oh, shut up and go home. You need to get your rest to make my food tomorrow."

"You need to at least clean your face up after eating before I give them to you. Have you not heard of napkins?"

In the split-second Shyla was distracted trying to feel around her mouth for the crumbs of food Sasuke had lied were there, he took advantage of her distraction by grabbing the nearest dirty towel he had used to dry himself of sweat and shower water earlier and threw it with perfect accuracy to hit her right in the face.

"Clean yourself up."

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We need to build a wall!"

"Senator Hodges, do you realize the cost of what you are suggesting?"

"It will it take months to procure the manpower and resources necessary for such a project even in the best circumstances, not to mention actually build it!"

"Both the completed sections of wall as well as the workers constructing it will have to be protected from Grimm attacks, where do you propose to procure the quantity of military assets and Hunters necessary to protect such a large operation for so long without weakening another area?"

"So what is your alternative, Senator Wilson? Do you propose we just ignore the problem right in front of us?"

"The Huntsmen and Huntresses as well as the few regular military units sent to the area in response have been sufficient to defeat the attacking Grimm so far with minimal casualties and no civilian losses. Would it not be a safer option to simply hold the line for now without weakening our other fronts until this anomaly passes by?"

"What if it doesn't pass by? What if Patch stays this way!?" Senator Hodges was red in the face from frustration and exhaustion, a condition shared by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle around him. He took a moment to catch his breath and continue driving forward his argument. "In the worst-case scenario we do nothing, the problem does not go away, and eventually Patch suffers a Grimm invasion powerful enough to drive us from the island completely. Perhaps in a generation or less. I'm telling all of you, we need to build a wall!"

Another man next to him, an older one with a solid built and six gold stars on his military uniform that confirmed his rank as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Vale, chose that moment to speak.

"I am in agreement with Senator Hodges, we need to start building some kind of physical barrier to block or at least hinder the Grimm! Patch has next to no physical geography favorable for defense anywhere on it- no large rivers, no mountains or rugged hills, and the forests there aren't thick enough to deter most Grimm. Any meaningful physical obstacle to defend the island's inhabitants is going to have to be put there with our own elbow grease brick by brick."

The meeting had been going on for almost ten hours now, and tensions were so high that the few breaks the representatives had taken had done little to nothing to calm anyone's nerves. From his seat, Professor Ozpin sat back and looked on.

Being reincarnated more times than he could count meant that even if he had almost always ended up as either a peerless warrior or some kind of leader in his separate bodies, he had still gone through all other walks of life multiple times. He had been a cook, a carpenter, a farmer, a dog trainer, a builder, an artist, a poet, and the list went on.

It was moments of representative and bureaucratic deadlock like this that made Ozpin wish he could retire from political life for a decade or two and have a few vacations before being reincarnated and jumping back in the saddle. Circular arguments, short tempers, stubborn hold-outs, inconvenient legal loopholes, and endless red tape very accurately summed up every political life he had ever had. It was an endless and universal pain in the ass that transcended time, nations, region, ideologies, and culture itself regardless of where he was.

Ozpin would have much preferred to ditch the meeting and go kill Grimm the old-fashioned way, but circumstances required his presence here. Normally he left smaller matters of governance to the elected senators and other legal bodies. All four kingdoms were governed differently in their own way, but all of them had their respective militaries fall under separate jurisdiction from their main governing bodies more or less. It was perhaps not too democratic to have armed forces not under the leadership of the civilian government, but the risk and nature of Grimm attacks meant that any armed forces needed to respond immediately to any sudden crisis without going through days of government voting and red tape.

The Huntsmen and Huntresses technically fell under their own separate category and were not loyal to any one nation, but they were still organized in a similar way that had a very clear and quick chain of command to gather any Hunters rapidly enough to deal with an emergency.

It was on very rare occasions that the Senators shared a meeting room with Ozpin and Vale's military commanders, and it was never a good sign.

The situation on the island of Patch certainly warranted everyone being there- even with thousands of years beneath his belt Ozpin had no explanation or sure solution for the problem they faced.

The island of Patch had actually been given the name due to it being a 'patch' that compared to the rest of Remnant, was relatively Grimm-free. Some nameless and forgotten explorer or map-maker in the past had referred to the island as a 'Patch' of land that was safe to land on, and over the years the name had stuck. Grimm were still present there, but they spawned with less than a quarter the frequency that the creatures did on the rest of Remnant. Other than areas of dense human populations such as cities, which had no Grimm spawn in them at all, Patch had the lowest density of Grimm in the world.

In addition, they also matured incredibly slowly compared to other regions. Rarely developing the bone-like armor as they matured that members of their kind on other continents did.

It made it an ideal place for a kingdom in terms of safety, but physical geography prevented the island from becoming a practical haven. The climate was too unpredictable for farming, and the soil on the island wasn't suited for most major crops anyway. There were no notable sources of raw materials such as Dust, iron, petroleum, nor industrial or commercial metals. The waters off the island were also too warm and nutrient-poor to support large fisheries, the most productive of which were found around the continents of Solitas and Menagerie.

The Grimm on Patch had one other quirk not found anywhere else; they attacked humans with ordinary eagerness on the eastern portion of Patch, but they went into an almost Berserker-like state of aggression against any people they saw if that person was roughly over forty miles due west of where Signal Academy was. This bizarre behavior that seemed to be tied to the latitude of where the Grimm was located was found nowhere else. The rage induced by this phenomenon was enough to give any Grimm it affected a seeming immunity from pain and a resilience and durability increase that would normally not be found on Grimm so weak. Their brutal suicidal attacks had prevented any attempts to colonize anything more than the eastern part of the island.

These phenomena were collectively known as the Patch Anomaly, and from what little records and artifacts had been gathered it had been there since before even Ozma or Salem had been born.

Not even Ozma knew how the Patch Anomaly came about or how it worked. For that matter neither did Salem. Before her fall the two of them had shared several conversations and debates over lunch or drinks on the subject, hypothesizing many ideas that were each more outrageous than the last.

They had not been the only ones to try and answer the mystery. Scholars, Historians, and scientists from all civilizations present and past had tried to solve the puzzle. All had been unsuccessful. The only thing anyone knew was that the Patch Anomaly was there, had been there for millennia, and would continue to be there.

Except it was not there anymore.

For close to the past three weeks local residents as well as the small local patrols had reported a four-fold increase in the number of Grimm spawning throughout the island- consistent with normal levels seen on the rest of Remnant. They were tougher and more mature too, almost as if they had somehow compressed the years needed to physically and mentally mature down to a few days. Their odd berserker rage had disappeared was well- all the scouts that had gone west of the magic latitude to risk trying to find the reason for the increased spawn rate had reported ordinary aggression from the Grimm they encountered.

As if that weren't puzzling enough, reports from all of the checkpoints around the Kingdom of Vale on the main continent had reported a drop in Grimm attacks of about 30% for all areas and all sectors surrounding the kingdom over the same time period. They were used to seeing the giant Goliaths continue their eternal trek around the kingdom, choosing to patiently wait for the perfect moment to strike instead of charging in. But newborn and young Beowolves, Ursai, and Nevermores that normally charged full speed to kill the first human they saw practicing the same reserved behavior as the Goliaths was unheard of. And yet that was what all the reports from the various outposts and traveling Hunters were unanimously telling them.

Once all of the records of Vale and Patch were re-analyzed and dated, it was concluded they had not started simultaneously. Vale's first drop in Grimm aggression was narrowed down to sometime during the night of February 19th. The changes around Patch had developed more slowly, but the first spike in the number of observed newborn Grimm was seen three days prior on February 16th.

Media outlets across Vale and all kingdoms had brought the events up in their mainstream. Scientists and several Huntsmen witnesses had been on several different stations to try and explain what had happened and guess what was coming next.

For his part, Ozpin was more apprehensive and terrified than he had been in a long time. He may not have known what had caused the Patch Anomaly to appear in the first place, but he knew that whatever had made it had been a strong and dependable enough to keep the area unchanged for over 3000 years. For it to be gone overnight meant something big had happened.

He had gone over every piece of recent news, every shred of information he could find to try and isolate exactly what fundamental change, no matter how seemingly small, had occurred two weeks ago. Even with Dr. Oobleck's assistance he had come up empty-handed. The closest odd event they could find was a report from a rural village in Mistral claiming that almost three weeks prior a hawk or eagle the size of a large car or truck had suddenly appeared with no warning in the middle of the local market without warning before flying away. He would have dismissed the story as a hoax, but it had occurred in broad daylight and had no less than fifty eyewitness testimonies to back it up. Perhaps there was some truth to it, but even if it had occurred Ozpin could not fathom any reason why a large bird appearing in a Mistral village would herald the end of the Patch Anomaly.

How to best proceed depended on the answer to one question that he could only speculate on: was Salem responsible for these events?

If the answer was no, then all of their speculation was meaningless. There was no way to predict how the situation would change down the road, if it did at all. Both humanity and Salem would be forced to dance around the situation as it developed without any idea what was coming next. If that was the case, it was impossible to know what the correct move was.

If the answer was yes, it raised several more questions that only made the situation more confusing. It was clear that Salem would prefer the Patch Anomaly gone and give humanity one less safe area to live. But when the drop in Grimm activity around Vale was considered, such a move made no sense. Vale was the center of the Kingdom, Patch was little more than a small outskirt community in comparison. Why weaken the fringe community if the main kingdom was the ultimate goal? Weakening Patch and strengthening Vale was, from Salem's perspective, like taking one step forward and two steps back.

One possibility was that she was intentionally misdirecting her efforts for now in the hopes that Vale would divert more and more resources to protect the island and keep the pressure off the main kingdom to lull them into a sense of security. That would be the point where she would attack with full force- on the kingdom when an enormous fraction of its defensive forces were stationed dozens of miles away. A diversion on an epic and potentially lethal scale.

If that was the case, then diverting Hunters and regular military resources to Patch was exactly what Salem wanted. It would end in catastrophe.

But if she had caused the change, why had it taken her so long to discover how to do it? Why was it happening now? It still didn't answer the fundamental question of what caused the Patch Anomaly to turn on and off in the first place.

As Ozpin continued to furiously consider scenarios, probabilities, and potential cause-and-effects, the rest of the representatives and leaders in the room continued their furious debate.

"The wall needed for that would have to be around 200 miles in length, Mr. Hodges. Even if we relocated the more rural residents closer to the eastern coast, 150 miles would be the bare minimum length required!"

At those words, tired blue eyes of one of the Huntsmen defending Patch that had been called in for witness testimony turned into cold cerulean pools that pinned the representative with a cold and merciless glare as he shot up from his assigned seat.

"You cannot be serious! I will not accept any course of action that involves forcible relocation or retreat!"

Taiyang Xiao Long was not an easy man to anger, but this was striking a personal note for him in more ways than one. At his words, Ozpin lifted his head in full attention to listen.

"Patch is not just some green spot on a map in your office, it is a home to myself, my family, and thousands of other people! When someone comes to destroy your home, you do not pack up and move, you defend it! We have had our cities, our towns, our lives at risk from Grimm since before history was written on paper, and we did not survive as long as we have by just giving up ground without a fight when things got tough!"

Everyone in the room had paused their thoughts to listen to the man, who showed no signs of being intimidated by the attention.

"I have heard the words 'our lines have held' several times now. Do the public servants in this room care to know how that happened?"

No one answered him.

"Hunters did not hold the line. The military did not hold the line. I did! My neighbors did! My community did! You want to know how we coordinated our defense? We had to **wait** until one of our friends called for help on their scroll! Everyone with combat experienced or a gun had to show up as fast as we could to contain the Grimm, and just hope that we didn't arrive too late! And you claim the situation is under control? My own daughters as well as their classmates were forced to defend their own fucking school against a Grimm attack just two days ago! With no warning at all! They were in the middle of lunch and what do you know, there's a pack of Grimm on the other side of the glass! I guess we had better take care of that! Can anyone care to guess what would have happened if the Grimm had shown up and the kids didn't have their weapons available? Or if they had shown up at the retirement home? Or the hospital?"

"Mr. Xiao-"

"This kingdom has some of the finest Huntsmen and Huntresses in the world, and a military force specifically designed and built to protect Vale and all of it's territories. So why are the citizens living on Patch being protected by its own citizens when our Hunters and military exist!? How the HELL is resorting to using thirteen to sixteen-year-old teenagers as soldiers an acceptable situation?! You have all talked about the cost of a wall, the cost of your proposals. WHY DO YOU GIVE A DAMN ABOUT THE COST!"

The blonde was roaring now, civility be damned.

"YOU ARE PUBLIC SERVANTS! YOU WERE NOT ELECTED TO SAVE MONEY, YOU WERE ELECTED TO PROTECT AND SERVE!"

The blonde's furious tirade paused for a moment as Taiyang forced himself to calm down and catch his breath for a moment before continuing.

"The question of risk has also been a popular topic of discussion tonight. I know many of you are hesitant to divert defensive resources away from Vale. I understand that perspective, I've been a Huntsmen long enough to know the consequences of loosing sight of the big picture. But those of you with that opinion must nevertheless ask yourselves an uncomfortable question: how many people on Patch have to die before you decide to help?"

Sharp intakes of breath were heard across the room at the blunt question. The unspoken accusation was obvious.

"A hundred? A dozen? Five adults and one child? What human sacrifice is going to be necessary before this pointless bickering produces something useful? True protection and security means attacking and defeating the Grimm in the wilderness, not waiting until they show up at our front door of our homes!"

His argument concluded, Taiyang sat back down. Seeing the opportunity to end the debate and actually get some concrete action started, Ozpin intervened before another back-and-forth could start.

"Thank you, Mr. Xiao Long, for your input. I think we **all** needed to be reminded of why we were brought here" the professor stated, making it clear that they needed to conclude their bickering and make a formal decision.

"I agree. This matter has been debated thoroughly, and both sides have made their points clearly and repeatedly" spoke an elderly woman with a fixed and stern appearance despite her hunched posture from arthritis. "As the Senate Speaker, I move we vote on Bill SM-76. The resolution would permit the Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces of Vale, General Wellington, to freely move military units from their standing positions around Vale to the territory of Patch until further notice at his discretion. In addition, the Bill would permit the use of emergency funds to pay for the design and construction of a defensive wall no further than fifty miles west of Signal Academy to span the length of the island to give its citizens additional protection. All those opposed?"

Ozpin did not watch the vote take place- he was too busy continuing to think. He had been in plenty of situations where no one knew the ultimate outcome. He had seen them end good, bad, and everything in between. Unfortunately, experience would do him no good here. The simple fact was he simply did not have the information necessary to make a confident decision one way or the other.

It was going to be a gamble no matter which path was chosen. Until they learned more details, they would just have to keep their fingers crossed that they had made the correct choice.

Ozpin had thought of sending Qrow to Patch as an easy mission to help defend the territory. It would give him a break from his reconnaissance of Salem's forces in Mistral and a chance to catch up with Taiyang and his nieces while simultaneously completing a mission. Unfortunately with information on Salem's activities suddenly worth its weight in gold, Ozpin needed him to continue gathering intelligence. As well as the situation in Patch, it had only been three months since half of Amber's Fall Maiden powers were stolen. He needed to find out what cards Salem was holding, and he needed to know now.

And if time was a factor, it would pay to do what he could to buy more.

With that final thought, Ozpin made his decision.

"All in favor?"

Ozpin raised his hand.

"Bill SM-76 passes with 24 yea and 18 nay. This meeting is now adjourned."

All present rose from their seats. Ozpin turned toward Commander Wellington, who quickly approached him.

"Professor Ozpin, it will take my staff two days to gather the main forces earmarked for reassignment and the transportation to get them and their mobile barracks to Patch. However, there are several scouting and light units that can be moved now that can perform defensive screening around high-risk areas. If you have any Hunters on standby, I can arrange the transports to pick them up and ship them to the island tonight."

"Thank you, Commander. I have over sixty unassigned Huntsmen and Huntresses near transport hubs in Vale that are available. You can take as many of them as you see fit, but I will require that only twenty Hunters or less remain stationed at Patch on a permanent basis after your main force arrives. I don't want to weaken the defenses of the main kingdom any longer than necessary."

"Absolutely, Professor. Don't worry, I'll get your boys and girls back quick."

"Thank you, Commander."

The two saluted each other before Wellington left the room to make good on his promise. Ozpin turned to address the other man who came to see him.

"That was quite a performance Tai. I must say you were quite the enviable man back there, screaming yourself hoarse at politicians face to face is a dream most of us never get to indulge."

"I'll admit it felt good, wanted to do that ever since the Healthcare fight last year. I only wish it were under less stressful circumstances."

"As do we all. Despite the bickering and self-interest in the room, I do believe everyone here wants the citizens of Vale to be safe. They can just never agree on how to get there" Ozpin replied, hoping to ease Tai's temper further down. "I was informed about the attack on Signal from both you and the Headmaster after it happened, but I never did ask how your daughters handled it?"

Taiyang's head lowered a bit, clearly not liking the answer he was about to give.

"They were both uninjured. With so many students and teachers in one place it didn't take long to overwhelm them. I wasn't there to see it, but I heard they both killed way more of their fair share than their classmates."

"But something else is bothering you, isn't it?"

Tai took a deep breath before replying to gather himself.

"Remember that kid I told you about? The one that Ruby found that couldn't speak Valerian and left my house during the night?"

"Yes, I do." That particular event had coincided quite neatly with the timeframe of the Grimm around Patch and Vale inexplicably shifting their behavior, but he had dismissed the idea as soon as it was formed. A single foreigner from some ancient, secretive lost colony could not possible alter the behavior of Grimm across a collective area measured in thousands of square miles. The professor continued, "I'm sorry to say but I still haven't found any leads."

"Well, Ruby and Yang found a cave several miles from the town where they think he stayed after he left us. Unfortunately the area around it was covered with Grimm tracks. Yang and Ruby faced more than a hundred Grimm before finding the place, and all of them came from the area around the cave."

Ozpin released a sigh of depression at the information, not needing Tai to elaborate further to get the implication. It was nowhere near as significant as the crisis they had just discussed in the meeting, but a single life lost was still a life he had sworn to protect.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm guessing your youngest isn't taking it so well?"

"It's… complicated. She's definitely taking it hard. Can't say I blame her, she's the one who found him after all. I know she feels at least partly responsible for what happened. But I heard she was… let's say, more aggressive than usual during the battle according to Yang. I always thought she was too innocent and trusting, that she would eventually be forced to lose some of it after she became a Huntress and saw some of the less-glamorous parts of life. But I never wanted it to happen this early, or in a personal way like this."

Ozpin brought his hand to Tai's shoulder in a firm grip, an attempt to reassure the man before the blonde continued.

"But she's taking it better than I thought she would, to be honest. I think Yang being around for support is a big help. She's still dead-set on being a Huntress. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she's used this as motivation to improve herself. I guess I might just be overly worried. But I can't just assume everything will turn out alright considering, well..."

"What happened to Raven and Summer?" Ozpin finished for him.

Tai lifted his head to look the Headmaster of Beacon in the eye with a look that betrayed his crushing concern and hidden fears. No matter how old he got, Tai still felt like a child whenever he spoke to Ozpin about serious matters. The older man had a grandfatherly air to him that made it seem like he understood and knew everything he was going through.

"…Yes. I just…" the blonde paused again, a lump forming in his throat as he tried to hold off tears from forming. Even after all this time, remembering the loss of Raven and Summer still made him feel like an icy dagger had been plunged into his stomach.

"I don't know what I would do if I lost one of my baby girls the same way I lost them. Sometimes I wonder if I'm even doing the right thing for them as a father, letting them go out on the same path that led one of their mothers to abandon her family and the other to go out on a mission that she never came back from."

"Tai, you can't let the past haunt you forever. Both your children are growing up fast, and both you and Qrow have done a magnificent job raising them if half the stories I've been told about them are accurate. Not just in terms of combat, but supporting and loving each other and their fellow humanity."

Ozpin removed his hand from Tai's shoulder before finishing.

"Tai, I've been alive a long time, and have met more people than I can count. Ruby and Yang have been raised from the cradle by yourself, Summer Rose, and Qrow Branwen. Despite some differences between the three of you, I can honestly say I know no other individuals whom I would trust to do a better job. And despite the fact they will be leaving the nest soon, they will still have each other to rely on."

"Tch, ever the optimist."

"So I've been told, though I'm afraid I might not live up to that expectation tonight considering the circumstances."

"You know what I like after a long day of long and boring meetings?"

"I'll take a wild guess and say alcohol."

"And Professor Ozpin gets it correct! Though I'm not sure where I could take you without damaging your PR. I don't suppose you know a place?"

"My dear Tai, I'm insulted you think so little of me. When you have as much responsibility and paperwork as I do, you learn to keep Tequila in your office and every room of your house."

"Oz… are you serious?"

A small smirk made its way to Ozpin's mouth as he adjusted his glasses in an almost conspiratorial manner.

"Come now Tai, even I need more than coffee every now and then."

XXXXXXXXXX

* * *

 **AN: Hope that was worth the wait.**

 **I had to do some wiki research with the sushi, so I hope I got most of the details more or less right. If not, well it's my story and I can bend the facts here a bit to make it work.**

 **In case any of you were wondering, I am from the United States. And as it so happens our glorious politicians were doing their whole back and forth bullshit with building the Southern Border Wall when I was writing a lot of this. So quite often when I started writing that scene I would be forced to abort writing a sentence that went something like this:**

" **It will be a big, beautiful wall! And the Grimm will pay for it! It will be huge!"**

 **You have no idea how tempting it was to put something like that in here if only for the fun of it. Don't lie, how many of you were thinking along similar lines when you read that first 'We need a wall'?**

 **Hope you all enjoyed Taiyang's rant here, you have no idea how fun that was to write!**

 **If you liked the first scene with Ruby and Yang, consider yourself lucky. I only added that on after I had written Tai's reference to it during his rant and figured it would have more of an impact if I wrote Ruby's emotional turmoil before that.**

 **Shyla is my first serious OC so I hoped you liked her. I wanted to have someone from Slate's place interacting with him so I just chose the random blonde I had put in Chapter 5. Personality wise I based her off Toph Beifong from Avatar Last Airbender.**

 **Well that's it for now, only another six weeks until the next update.**

 **I put a lot of effort into this one- let me know what you think about ALL of it.**


	8. Stripes with Stripes, Spots with Spots

**AN: Sorry for the wait, took a bit longer than I thought to put this out. But I have compensation for you: an almost 19,000-word count chapter. Almost double the usual! Hope you all enjoy!**

 **First, I do feel the need to recommend a story by LucianGrimoire titled,** **The Dark Avenger's Second Coming** **. I reviewed his/her story a few weeks ago and they were nice enough to recommend my story on their next post, so I feel I should return the favor. It's a Naruto-Bleach crossover featuring our favorite Uchiha, and it's been pretty good so far and taking a few interesting turns. With far more frequent updating than mine as well. If LucianGrimoire does read this, thanks for the praise! And I would be happy to hear a review from you!**

 **The reason I put the Patch anomaly in here was not just a plot device for this story- I honestly think there had to be some reason on canon why it's considered 'safe', considering that during two of the trailers Ruby and Yang are assaulted by Grimm that just wander up with no problem at all. If that is considered relatively peaceful and safe, what exactly is the standard by which the rest of the RWBY world is measured?**

 **As for those who didn't like the wall reference, well to be honest I didn't really want to put it in originally because I knew it would be a bit controversial. But try as I might, I could never come up with a good alternative. That damn wall just kept popping into my head, so eventually I just said "Fuck it", and put it in. Overall, however, I would still argue that it's not a big deal. This is a fictional wall in a fictional world that is itself based in two other fictional worlds- kind of like Inception. Chill out. The sun is still going to rise tomorrow regardless of what I put in here.**

 **Speaking of disagreeing with points in the story, now might be a good time to point out that now is probably the time where many of you will find some detail or scene in this story that you don't like. I can assure you it's not by design, but statistically speaking as stories go on the number of people who think the writer should have gone down a different road at one point or another only grows. It can't be avoided.**

 **At the beginning all of you were coming up with ideas and thoughts for where you thought it should go. Because it hadn't been written yet, all of you were hopeful that the unique version you had in mind would be the one I was going with. Now that the story has advanced a bit and a few roads have remained untaken, odds are that there are at least a few parts where you're thinking, "Why the hell did he write it like that, it would have been better if…". I can't please everyone, and all of you are going to at some point come across something you don't think I handled right. If half of you want Sasuke nerfed and the other half wants Sasuke at full power there's no way for everyone to win. All I can say is I hope you like the story as a whole and put whatever hopefully small disagreements you have behind you.**

 **KnightofZaku- Thanks for the praise! Good to know you liked Shyla, and you just might see Salem a bit later.**

 **alaude hibari- A bit longer than six months, I know. But I hope this makes it up to you.**

 **Fortitude501- I have to remind you of shitty politicians because I'm an idiot who couldn't come up with a more original idea and because I'm a dick.**

 **Crimson11116- He might have a few more eye-openers coming later on…**

 **NightmareKnight1- Yeah, I know what you mean. Real life sucks sometimes. Glad you enjoyed this though!**

 **Reasonable Man- Oh, the consequences are just beginning!**

 **MikeJonesWho- My first reviewer! Haven't heard from you in a while, glad to hear you're still with me!**

 **Suicide259- Sorry to hear you didn't like the previous chapter as much. Hate to break it to you, but not every chapter can be packed with progress; build-up needs to happen too. If you want more meaningful plot though, you might like the latter part of this chapter.**

 **Ashborn2271- Oh, if you knew what I have coming…**

 **LogicSoldier- It might be boring to you, but that doesn't make it irrelevant. If you really skipped that entire part you missed some important details.**

 **Fanfictions4Ever- Thanks for the PM you shot me a few days ago, really got me geared up to finish this.**

 **TimothyBurr- Happy to hear you enjoyed it! And Hawk's Plight was updated! Now only a year until the next chapter! (Dear God, I hope not)**

 **The Baz- The back-and-forth we've been having will bear fruit below. I hope you enjoy.**

 **EVA-Saiyajin- Nice to know you like what I've got so far! Can tell you don't like Trump though. Its understandable, guy has plenty of flaws. I have good news for you though- he won't be President forever. Elections every four years and term limits are wonderful things, aren't they?**

 **Croniklerx- I do actually agree with you that Ruby's development was a bit rushed in hindsight, but I wasn't quite sure how to go about making it a bit deeper. And keep in mind that Ruby is still rather innocent and has that 'simple soul', even considering she lost her friend.**

 **I guess it could be the same Ursa. It doesn't really matter, honestly. The point is that all the Grimm on Patch are stronger than usual.**

 **Why would Sasuke not like massages? Where exactly is that mentioned anywhere in canon? No one has tried to breech the subject to him, sure, but I think it's a bit of a stretch to just assume he wouldn't like them (depending on the masseuse of course).**

 **Nice to know you like Shyla. I wanted several OCs for this instead of just using the characters already created because I didn't want things to go as predictably as they would otherwise. And it's important to remember that for all the "This character is OC, kick them out, get an important main character" talk, people also bitch and moan when main characters get so much screen time that other side characters are overshadowed. It's also important to remember that the average joe citizens that are 'unimportant' to the RWBY storyline are the entire reason Huntsmen and Huntresses exist.**

 **I am partially doing the story mostly in third-person to show Sasuke's perspective (which is not always right), but also just because that's just how I naturally write stories. Just kinda clicks more that way for me personally.**

 **Danish78- It was so weird writing Yang as the responsible one! But when the chips are down even Yang knows when to get serious.**

 **You're pretty spot-on with your analysis of why Sasuke is working a day job. Not sure why people think he can't tolerate unwanted social activity. He did it during his days with Team Seven. Hell, he spent three years in the constant company of a guy who was going to steal his body and was responsible for utterly despicable human rights violations even by shinobi standards. Dealing with Shyla's tongue or drunk customers is a walk in the park compared to that.**

 **I like Sasuke x Ino pairing too. Don't see enough of it.**

 **Machcia- Sasuke's perception may be really good, but I would hardly say it's abnormal for his universe even amongst characters without a Dojutsu to beef their vision. If you'll remember the final stage of the Chunin exams when Shikamaru fights Temari, she backs away and precisely measured the length that his shadow can reach (15 meters and 32 centimeters) with a single glance just by eyeballing it. It's episode 64.**

 **I do agree that the Naruto timeskip was a bit of a let-down for all the rookies. The difference between post and pre time-skip was far more pronounced in the One Piece series.**

 **The Jingo- Always feel good hearing from you. 699 Sasuke is certainly a good pick, but there are several reasons I went with the Hebi version for this one.**

 **Lusec- Glad you've enjoyed it so far! By the way, any chance of seeing Godslayer or Dragonborn updated? I liked what I saw from them!**

' _thoughts'_

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 **Uchiha of Remnant**

Chapter 8: Stripes with Stripes, Spots with Spots

The moment the doorbell rang, Sasuke could hear footsteps from the other side. At least he wouldn't be kept waiting. He was anxious enough to get this night over with as it was.

The door was answered by a boy in his preteens, maybe 12 or 13. With messy platinum blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes, he could only be Shyla's younger brother she had mentioned.

At least he was actually real. It had occurred to the Uchiha that Shyla may have simply lied about a brother to feed to get some sympathy from him. Not that it would have succeeded in persuading him to make her food.

"Are you Sasuke?"

"Yes. Is your sister ready?"

The kid proceeded to give him a stare that was easily translated as a 'what kind of idiot are you?' look.

"She's not ready yet is she?"

"She's a hot girl. They're never ready on time."

Switching mood from anxious to annoyed in near record time, Sasuke pulled out his scroll to look at that last text he had gotten from her.

' **If you finished making my food, bring it to Greyguard Apartments, #302. B here at 6.'**

It was six, and she wasn't ready. It was possible being this late was normal for her, but there was a good chance that she was taking longer than usual just to get under his skin.

Just leaving her here and calling the agreement off sounded appealing right now, and would cut his losses nicely. Unfortunately, it would also be the same as admitting defeat. Sasuke had an ego, and waving a white flag because he had to wait a few extra minutes for a girl to get ready would be an unacceptable surrender regardless if he left this world behind and never saw her again.

"You want to come in? It's gonna take her a while."

The Uchiha gave a short nod before walking through the open door, accepting the offer without saying a word.

He quickly located the fridge and placed the sushi he made for her inside, not wanting to give her any reason to delay any more. He had scarcely placed himself on a nearby sofa to wait for Shyla to finish whatever superfluous tasks she needed to leave before he realized the boy was staring at him in a way that made it obvious he wanted to ask him a question but wasn't sure he should.

The Uchiha was in no mood to indulge in a conversation with a civilian child, especially one that didn't have the guts to ask a question. He simply pulled out his scroll and began surfing through the recent news, narrowing his eyes at yet another article regarding the mysterious disappearance of the Patch Anomaly and the subsequent drop of Grimm attacks around the city of Vale. It had not escaped his notice that these two seemingly impossible events coincided perfectly with his arrival to Remnant as well as his journey from Patch to Vale.

He didn't have the slightest clue why his presence would cause the Grimm to behave this way, much less how he was apparently able to alter the behavior of thousands of Grimm ranging across hundreds of square miles in all directions from his location. Nevertheless, he could not refute the evidence.

He had thought it would be relatively easy to hide in Vale and that his immunity to being a target for Grimm only took effect when he was extremely close to them. Unfortunately, it would not be that easy.

' _This makes no sense. I'm not even_ _ **doing**_ _anything! I haven't used a shred of chakra since I got to Vale, so how can they sense my presence from so far away?'_

Grimm could detect negative emotions, but they could only sense them from longer distances if they were particularly potent or if they were felt simultaneously by large numbers of people in the same place. He certainly had enough hate for Itachi to catch their notice, but even that hardly seemed enough to justify sensing him from dozens of miles away and ignoring the emotions of Remnant's native populace.

And even if they could sense him from so far away, why weren't they responding like they typically would and try to find and kill him? That was what Grimm of all kinds had done throughout history, so why would his alien nature change that?

He gave a mild huff of exasperation as he decided to let the matter drop. Sasuke didn't know how to explain this phenomenon nor could he stop it. He would just have to hurry home.

"Aren't you going to tell my sister you're here?"

The kid had finally gathered the nerve to speak up- though it was such a mundane question Sasuke couldn't see why he had been hesitant to bring it up.

"No."

"Why not? Don't you need her to hurry up?"

"Exactly. If I let her know I'm here, she'll probably take longer just to spite me."

"Oh…"

.

.

.

"How did you beat BoneSaw? I saw one of his matches a while back, and he's just so huge! You don't look like you could take him."

There was the question he had really wanted to ask.

"I defeated BoneSaw because I'm a better fighter" the Uchiha replied, looking up from his scroll. "Let me guess, you saw how big he was, thought he must be strong and powerful, and anyone smaller couldn't stand a chance. Am I wrong?"

Sasuke had not come with the intention of having small talk with a civilian child, and normally would have just told the kid to be quiet and give him peace. He had done so with others more times than he could count, and it shouldn't have been too hard.

It wasn't quite the same though. The way the kid's eyes had locked on his face with anticipation of his answer reminded him a bit too much of himself when he had asked Itachi about his extraordinary feats after he had come back from missions.

It wouldn't hurt to indulge the kid. He probably wouldn't see him again regardless. Besides, it wasn't like he had anything better to do right now.

"No, you're right. But… I just don't see how he could lose to you."

"Things are rarely as simple as they first appear. There is far more to consider than just weight class. His larger size made it harder for him to rotate or turn quickly, so it was easy to outmaneuver him. And no matter how bulky someone is, there are always weak points."

"I wish I could have seen it… I was hoping he would be beaten eventually. Sis never liked him."

"Hn."

Hopefully that would be the end of their conversation, if it could be called that. The kid certainly had more questions, but Sasuke had no interest in continuing. The boy was lucky he had been given an answer that was more than two words.

"She was always in a bad mood when she came home from working with him. She never told me anything important, but that time I saw his fight he… grabbed her for a few seconds after he had won. She told me it was just part of the act, but I could tell she didn't like it."

Just great. He had just come to pick Shyla up, leave, and get the night over with. Now he was somehow saddled with her little brother who had emotional concerns about his sister and said brother likely thinking of a way to not-so-subtly figure out if he would try anything with Shyla like his predecessor apparently had.

And if he said anything to the kid that upset him, Shyla might be pissed enough to ditch their agreement and leave him single at a Nightclub on a Saturday night. His own version of hell on earth.

' _What do I say? Do I give him some ridiculously optimistic view that makes him forget this whole thing for ten minutes or do I just rip the band-aid off and tell him the truth?'_

It wasn't a hard decision. Normally reality was a tough pill to swallow, but in this case the kid was more concerned than he should have been. He was certainly not despicable enough to cop a feel in some theatric display of power and status, and the Uchiha found it hard to imagine Shyla would have hesitated to introduce BoneSaw's testicles to her knee if he had crossed a line.

"Your concern is unnecessary. Your sister is tough enough to handle herself against anyone she doesn't like. I can promise you even someone like BoneSaw or myself wouldn't get very far if she disliked him as much as you say" the Uchiha assured, returning his gaze to his scroll.

The last part was a bit of stretch, Shyla was a civilian after all. If a guy BoneSaw's size or his skill actually tried assaulting her where she had no help, even her attitude and stubborn nature wouldn't change the outcome. But the scenario was so outlandish it was almost worthy of ignoring. No woman as attractive or as clever as Shyla would be stupid enough to be caught by themselves with a guy she didn't trust.

It had just occurred to the Uchiha that this was the first time in his life he had needed to provide advice and consolation to someone. And to a civilian about his sister's sexual harassment possibilities no less. In Konoha he would have been in a group of people who would have jumped up and taken care of it, Naruto and possible Sakura being the first that came to mind. And the possibility of even seeing a non-imprisoned civilian during his time with the Snake Sannin was about as likely as seeing a Fireball Jutsu turn to ice in mid-air.

But here he was, a fish out of water if there ever was one. He was really hoping that the kid would just believe the 90% truth and 10% bullshit he had said and shut up. He was far enough out of his comfort zone already.

"She didn't like BoneSaw, but she likes you well enough. She doesn't say a lot of good things about anyone, but on Fridays when I ask her how her day was she mostly talks about you."

At that Sasuke looked up from his scroll and gave the kid his own more practiced version of 'what kind of idiot are you?' look.

"Your sister is one of the most infuriating people I have ever met, and she goes out of her way to annoy me for her own amusement. In what world does that mean she likes me?"

"Hers. I know it's weird, but trust me- I've known her my whole life. I don't know if she like-likes you or just wants to be normal friends, but if you got on her bad side there's no way she would have told you where she lived or to meet her here."

That last part made enough sense, but the rest was ridiculous. What kind of messed up did someone have to be to want to piss off people they appreciated?

And if this was her being nice, what was it like to be on her bad side?

"What the hell? When did you get here?"

Shyla chose that moment to enter the living room, upset that Sasuke had entered her home unannounced.

"A few minutes ago. I left your food in the fridge already. I hope you're ready to go, you're only ten minutes late."

She seemed ready at least. Shyla had changed into a black halter dress that was clearly meant for nights on the town and had clearly gone out of her way to prove that her hair could indeed be shinier than it normally was.

"Oh, fuck off Twinkletoes. If you were an actual date I would have spent another hour prepping. Consider yourself lucky I don't think that highly of you. And at least I got ready- I know you're on the job and all that but couldn't you have put on something that's supposed to fit the mood of the place a bit? What kind of loser wears a coat to a nightclub?"

"Someone who's smarter than you. The whole point of you being with me at all is to dissuade drunk morons from talking to me. Did it occur to you I wear this to appear not interested in mingling? Use your brain for change."

"If you used your brain you wouldn't be talking and wasting time when you might be late and piss of your boss. Wouldn't want you to be in trouble, now would we?"

"Then shut up and move."

"Watch the place while I'm gone, squirt. And finish your homework!"

Shyla's brother had had a rather amused look on his face watching what was a brief yet entertaining back and forth between the two, but replaced it with a huffing frown upon being reminded that school followed him everywhere.

He had hoped it would last longer. Most people would either retreat, placate, or snap when his sister pulled her barbed tongue out, but this one had kept his cool and matched her blow for blow. He had been on the receiving end of Shyla's vocabulary before and it was really fun seeing her get a small taste of her own medicine.

* * *

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"Hey hot stuff, you look lonely here all by yourself. You wanna dance?"

"I'm a bouncer on duty. Find someone else."

Sasuke had been standing in his favorite balcony corner for about four hours now, and the woman talking to him was the twenty-fourth of the night to approach him. He had expected a smaller number with Shyla here, but he had made a miscalculation.

Shyla had told him when they made the deal that she would split from him and talk to her friends or people she knew if she saw them.

The problem was that she was one of the most talented social butterflies he had ever seen, because it seemed she knew **everyone**. She had walked up to no less than thirty patrons so far and had called them by their first name, and no fewer had approached her.

If Shyla were a shinobi that could learn jutsu as quickly as she could make friends, she would probably have a ninjutsu collection larger than Kakashi's in a few months.

"Come on, you're waay too uptight. Nothing's going to happen, why not enjoy yourself for a few minutes?"

"You need help leaving bitch?"

The girl who approached him whirled around to confront the interruption, eyes narrowing in rage.

"Excuse me?"

"He's taken. And he's too busy to bother with you anyway. Get lost."

To her credit, Shyla did keep her word that even if she did stray away, she would be close enough to bail him out if he needed it. Twenty-four times tonight he had been approached, and twenty-four times she had come to his aid remarkably quickly.

Honestly he was impressed a civilian had the situational awareness to keep tabs on him from the corner of her eye while being in the middle of a large group.

"I knew you would be popular, but damn!" the blonde exclaimed, ignoring the venomous look the other woman was giving her as she retreated. "Would you have needed a stick to beat her off if I wasn't around?"

"I would have handled it."

Though he had to admit she could make unwanted female company leave far more quickly than he could. If he had been by himself the woman would have probably kept trying for a bit.

"But I did it for you. You can thank me anytime, you know."

"How are you enjoying your half-price drinks? How did you get those again?"

"Oh, I like the booze as much as anyone else. But an honest two or three words of gratitude straight from your mouth has a more personal touch."

A blank stare was all she got.

"Keep up the tough guy silent act all you want, but I know you're glad I'm here."

She wasn't wrong- the Uchiha was grateful for her presence. His evening so far had gone much smoother than it would have if he had flown solo. The only downside was that unlike the Malachite twins, she couldn't stay around him more than three minutes before seeing one of the uncountable people who were unfortunate enough to befriend her. At least Melanie and Miltia took their work here seriously.

He certainly respected Shyla's stubborn nature and annoying wit. It certainly kept him on his toes and made an otherwise boring evening more interesting even if it did grate his nerves on and off, but the twins were among the few number of people Sasuke could tolerate easily.

He had made a good enough impression on his first night to earn their respect, and they didn't try to boss him around like the other subordinates and didn't have to be told to respect his boundaries. The few nights they had worked together they had set up an unspoken agreement that the twins would play blocker for any women trying to talk to him, and Sasuke would do the same for the guys trying to hit on them.

It had worked very well, especially now that no one since his first day had bothered to physically challenge him. Some of the patrons also went to Slate's arena and easily recognized him, and added to that his bullet catching feat had gone through the rumor mill and he had a solid reputation as someone not to be messed with.

The twins, however, had been disappointed that he didn't need to throw punches. Melanie and Miltia had apparently decided to take his advice and try going out of a few double dates on their days off, and it was obvious none of them had gone well. Their dates had made such poor performances thus far that they had gone into the infamous female 'all men are assholes' mode.

Aside from Junior, he was the only guy as far as he knew that was spared from their unpleasant mood. Probably due to the fact that they had seen him in similar situations with women he did not want to associate with and could empathize with their frustration.

A quick flurry of movement from someone pushing someone brought the Uchiha out of his thoughts.

' _Time to go to work.'_

As he approached, his annoyance reached new heights when he saw the reason for the fight.

He was used to seeing guys getting aggressive with each other over girls, and even a bit of the reverse. Despite never having been in the situation himself, he was capable of understanding the reasons behind fights like that. There was no prize for second place, after all.

The fight about to break out was based on nothing but the fact that five of the human patrons did not want to share the same building with two others who were sporting a beaver tail and lizard hands.

He had certainly heard of the race called Faunus, it was one of the first subjects he had learned during his days reading in his cave on Patch. They were strikingly similar in nature and description to the prisoners he had freed from Orochimaru before he had arrived, though the Faunus had been around for far longer.

The Uchiha had thought nothing of them at the time and he still didn't. Having various animal features or lack thereof meant as much to him as the color of someone's hair- absolutely nothing.

His brother had looks as flawless as his, and turned out to be a monster. Naruto was the most forgiving, warm-hearted person he knew, and had a demon fox inside of him that had destroyed half of Konoha. Sasuke Uchiha had long ago learned that outward appearances meant jack shit.

Even outside of his own experiences, shinobi in general did not fully judge on appearance. Those that did never lasted very long- deception was a powerful tool.

For some reason, many people of Remnant had not learned this lesson. For Sasuke, that meant that right now he had a fight to prevent that in his opinion shouldn't have been a possibility in the first place.

' _Unbelievable. Creatures of pure destruction have been at that gates of every kingdom and settlement since before this world had written history, and these morons choose to waste their time picking fights with sentient beings who look a bit different.'_

Granted, the friction between humanity and the Faunus wasn't quite that simple. Decades of back and forth conflict meant that there were some bitter grievances on both sides regardless of which side initiated it. Humanity was certainly the party guilty of starting the feud if ancient scrolls were to be believed.

They had been a part of the population in several ancient kingdoms, and a few nameless merchants or rulers had at some point thought 'huh, this group of beings can walk and talk like people and understand orders, and also have animal features like the oxen and horses we have help pull things. Why don't we force them to work for free and buy and sell them like we do other domesticated animals?'

In Sasuke's opinion, that logic would only make sense to someone who had either never met a Faunus in person and in their ignorance believed that Faunus had no soul or consciousness, or a greedy shitstain that knew such oppression and slavery was wrong but placed a higher value on a fat wallet.

In modern times there was even less of an excuse. Everyone had seen or met a Faunus at some point, and a five-year-old child would be able to tell that they were living, sentient beings who had every reason to have the same rights and respect as anyone else.

The Faunus were not helped in their plight by the fact that they were a minority compared to humans everywhere they lived together in both past and present- something that was almost guaranteed not to change due to a quirk of Faunus physiology that resulted in exceedingly low fertility rates.

In order for two organisms to sexually reproduce, the partners had to be genetically compatible with each other. It was a concept that was already proven by researchers on Remnant, and the Uchiha himself was also aware of it from simply being close to Orochimaru and Kabuto when they were doing related 'work' with their animal-human cross subjects before he had freed them. It was the reason why it was physically and genetically impossible to cross a cat and a dog if God forbid, they tried to breed. Every individual Faunus had the partial genes for hundreds if not thousands of respective animals, but their unique genetics meant that only one of their potential animal traits would ever be expressed with the unused DNA lying dormant.

Such genetic restriction was necessary for Faunus to reproduce to begin with- even two individuals with only one animal trait apiece would be almost guaranteed to have their respective traits' DNA so incompatible between their respective sex cells after cellular meiosis that the resulting egg would almost always miscarriage within the hour of being fertilized. A Faunus couple or a Human-Faunus pair were a hundred times less fertile on average than a pair of humans.

The only compensation Faunus had to this enormous demographic disadvantage was that for some unknown reason they were ten times more likely than humans to develop and wield Aura, Remnant's counterpart to chakra from what Sasuke could tell. Even so this was not enough to offset humanity's numbers and technology.

And so the Faunus were stuck as a minority in human societies, which was never a good situation if their numerically superior counterparts found any reason to dislike them.

As far as Sasuke was concerned there was no reason for humans to still look at Faunus as anything other than fellow humans with an extra appendage. He had long since learned the reason why the villagers of Konoha had treated Naruto with such visceral hatred, not to mention how easily the Hokage and every adult figure around had lied to him and his classmates about the truth of the Nine-tails attack. As misguided and baseless as the anger toward Naruto was, at least the people of Konoha had directly suffered to feel such emotions.

The Faunus had not been responsible for any massive attack remotely close to that scale even if the increasingly radical White Fang had taken a step or two in that direction.

And so the five idiots Sasuke was walking towards had no excuse for their behavior. He had to waste his time cleaning up this mess because their parents had probably not taken the time to really hammer in the 'if someone isn't screwing up your good time you have no reason to screw up theirs' lesson.

"All of you take a step back. Now."

All within earshot heard and heeded his words. It was amazing how people could suddenly listen to him when they knew he could catch bullets.

"You five, get out."

Five pairs of eyes widened in surprise, not expecting to be the ones kicked out.

"What! Why? For trying to keep the place clean from _them_?"

"It's my job to kick people out who don't deserve to be here. So get lost."

Everyone watching the tense exchange was anxious, but the two Faunus that had been a few seconds away from a brawl were surprised. They had been in this situation before, and usually the bouncers would side with the humans to avoid potentially upsetting a comparatively larger group of customers.

Vale was more tolerant in general of Faunus than anywhere else with the exception of Vacuo and Menagerie, but there were still a number of humans in the kingdom who would take action if they saw Faunus somewhere they didn't like. Most other humans were either sympathetic or neutral, but weren't willing to stick up for them if it meant getting involved with a conflict that they just wanted to stay out of.

The quintet shifted their eyes back and forth between themselves and the Uchiha, each one wanting someone else to present a suitable argument to get him to change his mind.

"The door is behind you" the Uchiha stated, in a tone that made it clear he would not be changing his mind.

"You traitorous litt-"

"Dude, shut up!" one of the argumentative man's friends interrupted before roughly grabbing his shoulders and spinning him around to walk toward the door. "You saw that guy fucking professional fighters up at Slate's, don't fucking try it!"

As the offending group left and the remaining patrons went back to their business, the two Faunus looked at each other before letting out a sigh of relief.

"Damn, that was lucky. They were blocking our way to the door and everything."

"I know. Really dodged a bullet there. Hey bro, thanks for the help! I'll spot you a dri-"

The Faunus paused his statement upon realizing the one who had saved their night from turning into a beat down was already out of earshot, walking back toward one of the hottest blondes either of them had ever seen.

"Guess he's got better things to do."

"Don't worry about it. We're still here, and the night's still young. Who knows? Maybe even you can score a chick here!"

"I'll be happy going home in one piece, it's nice being the ones defended for once. You know we're coming back here, right?"

"Oh, hell yes!"

Ignoring the gratitude of the Faunus he had helped, the Uchiha made his way back to the corner. He was not going to form life-long bonds of friendship with those he helped like Naruto would.

"I'm surprised Twinkletoes" Shyla confessed, a single eyebrow raised in confusion. "Never pegged you as the type to stick up for the little guy."

"I'm not sticking up for them. I'm doing my job."

"Whatever you say, tough guy" the blonde retorted, a small smirk on her face that made it clear she didn't believe him and thought it was amusing he bothered to pretend otherwise. "Most people in your shoes would have kicked out the smaller group so the larger one with more money to spend would stay. I'm just sayin…"

Sasuke slowly turned his head to her, almost stupefied in disbelief.

"…You think this is about money?"

"At least some of it. You were fine with getting a cut of the gross for that sushi deal you made. Are you telling me I'm wrong?"

Sasuke's retort was put on hold as he saw a well-dressed middle-aged man approach him with two girls possessing hourglass figures following him that he could tell put too much makeup on for him to accurately judge how they looked.

"Hello, young man, I was wondering if I could have a minute of your time?"

"I'm on the clock and I'm not interested in any deal you have in mind. Leave."

"At least give me the courtesy of introducing myself- I'm Mike Russel, and I have an opportunity for you if you want to make a lot of cash. And I guarantee it will be more fun than standing around in the corner, even if you do have lovely company" the man stated, not ready to give up on whatever his quest was.

"I highly doubt you can offer me anything I want."

"I can give you a spot in my next movie. I'm a porno director, and I think you'd be quite the hit. You'll have to audition of course, but I have a hunch you'll be popular with your colleagues."

"What's a porno?"

Whatever response Russel was expecting, it wasn't that. A look of utter disbelief crossed his face, and the two women behind him that had been giving him sultry smirks switched gears to looks of utter shock. And though he couldn't see behind him, Shyla was staring at him as though he had been born on another planet.

"You- you're kidding, right?"

"I was born outside the kingdoms in a village that's been isolated from the rest of the world for centuries before it was destroyed. I only came to Vale recently and didn't know how to speak Valerian a few weeks ago, I'm still catching up on some of the culture and technology here."

He had forgotten to look up what porn was after his first night here when the first offender he knocked out mentioned it. It hadn't been important enough to bother looking up between crafting the seal, learning the advanced science of this world, and his jobs.

It didn't really matter what it was. He could tell from context it was an entertainment job of some kind, which meant his face and identity would be available to the public with the internet to spread it. He had already been approached with four modeling offers and a small part in an upcoming movie because of his looks and had rejected them all out of both principle and the inevitable compromise of his efforts to remain hidden.

He would just have to turn this proposal down t-

"He would love to accept your offer!"

Onyx eyes rounded on his 'faithful girlfriend', who had chosen at that moment to intervene on his behalf, if perhaps not his interest. That too-friendly smile on her face was an almost exact replica of the one Naruto had when he was about to pull a big prank on someone.

"Shyla, what t-"

His words were smothered before he could properly articulate his disagreement as she had the nerve to slap her hand over his mouth to prevent any interjection on his part.

"Don't be so hasty _sweetie_ , this could be just what you need in your life. Something fun and exciting to spice up your boring work life!"

Something was wrong here. **Very** wrong. He couldn't pinpoint what it was, but his instincts were telling him he was walking toward something he did not want to touch.

"You're his girlfriend, right? I'm kind of shocked you're cool with this, I thought I would have to talk you into sharing him. He's a lucky man!"

He did not like this.

"Oh I'm a bit jealous, but I would just hate to see such potential go to waste. Trust me, he'll bring more to the table than just his looks."

He did not like this.

"Oh, excellent! And if he was accepted as a bouncer here, I'm assuming he's in good physical shape?"

 **He did not like this.**

"Absolutely. He's got a second job as a fighter at a boxing ring, and I can tell you he's got stamina to spare."

The Uchiha had had quite enough of others deciding his fate, and ripped Shyla's hand off his mouth before elbowing back into the conversation.

"What is a porno?" the Uchiha repeated, staring straight into the director's eyes in a manner that many would compare to a guided missile that had locked onto its target.

"Well," the director replied awkwardly, clearly uncomfortable with the Uchiha's gaze. "I suppose it's only fair I exp-"

"It's a special kind of movie," the blonde interrupted again, "It makes people who watch it feel warm, tingly, and excited insi-"

Sasuke had had enough of Shyla dodging the issue. Before she could so much as blink he had slapped his own hand over her mouth to prevent any more oral interruptions on her part.

It was horribly crude by his standards, but the alarm bells ringing in his head were enough to persuade him that desperate action was needed.

" **What is a porno?"**

"What's going on here?"

The Uchiha prevented himself from gritting his teeth in frustration as Junior saw fit to follow Shyla's example and prevent him from finding out a simple piece of information.

For his part the bear-like man was looking at the scene in utter confusion; not knowing what to make of Sasuke preventing his pretend-girlfriend from speaking her mind.

"Oh don't mind us, my good man. I was just offering your employee here a chance to take part in one of my films."

Junior had to prevent his jaw from dropping in shock. He knew Russel was an Adult Film director, but Sasuke was one of the last people he would have expected to take part.

"Really, kid? I… didn't figure you for the type…" he admitted almost awkwardly.

The Uchiha, however, was at the end of his tether.

' _Hn. If you want something done right…'_

If he either couldn't trust anyone to tell him or was going to be interrupted mid-question every damn time, he may as well look himself.

So without further delay the Uchiha took his scroll out with his remaining hand and began typing the words 'porno film' in the search engine while Russel began trying to negotiate with Junior about his potential schedule.

He finished typing the letters.

He hit enter.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Sasuke Uchiha stared into the abyss. The abyss stared back.

He was familiar with adult literature. Kakashi had read that erotic series during every minute of free time the man had, so it was impossible for Sasuke to not pick up the concept of erotic/romantic writing and art. Even if he had never been desperate enough to partake in it himself.

This… was something else entirely. The Uchiha supposed with the technology here someone would make movies or video clips of similar nature. His homeland did have far more primitive motion picture technology that probably could be used for similar purposes. But he was fairly certain there were no adult writing or works in the Elemental Nations that remotely corresponded with the… **nightmare** he was lying his horrified eyes on.

' _What. The._ _ **Fuck.**_ _ **Is in that cup those two girls are sharing!?'**_

Bananas and carrots were supposed to be eaten **and nothing else.** Biological waste was supposed to be flushed down a toilet and **nowhere else.** Sex was supposed to be a private and special act reserved only for the pair involved and **not broadcast for the whole planet to see.**

This was not sexy. This was not hot. These were acts that were so impossibly unnatural and heinous that if they were committed in Hell, the Devil himself would spit the partakers out of his domain in sheer disgust.

' _Russel wanted to make me do this… Shyla was going to let him…'_

The Uchiha suddenly became aware that all of his senses started feeling… fuzzy, for lack of a better word. A second later he realized he had lost enough motor control to unknowingly release his grip on Shyla's mouth.

He was going into mild shock.

The Uchiha shot out his now free hand directly behind him to stabilize himself on the metal railing behind him. The noise of the impact of his hand on the rail attracted the attention of the five people in front of him, who turned their heads toward the subject of their conversation.

They were unsure what to make of Sasuke's current position until they glanced at his scroll. He had not found porn agreeable.

Then they cringed as a shrill, piercing sound penetrated their skulls. Eyes widened in amazement and no small amount of fear as they realized the source.

The Uchiha's arm was tearing the railing in his grip from its foundations. The solid metal screeched in protest before the molecular bonds holding it together were overpowered by his muscles, snapping the metal apart like a piece of overstretched gum.

The painful noise of metal being twisted or moved in disagreeable fashion continued as the observers made further notice that the pieces in Sasuke's direct grip were becoming larger at either end of his fist. Faces went pale as they saw him crush the rail in a grip so hard it was _squeezing out_ the metal in his ever-tightening clenched fist like toothpaste through a tube.

The Uchiha's head slowly lifted as he regained full function of his senses, and at least one of the five present had to consciously prevent themselves from losing control of their bladder at the look of unadulterated rage he was giving the director.

" **Turn. Around. And. Walk. Away."**

He didn't need to be told twice. Though the man and his two escorts did not walk so much as sprint out of the building in an attempt to put as much distance between them and the Uchiha as possible.

If he killed Shyla, Junior or one of his henchmen would call the police, he would get arrested, his fake ID and questionable origins would come to light, and he might be shipped off to a top-secret R&D facility that would double as his prison that he may or may not be able to escape.

That logic was keeping his anger under just enough control to resist the urge to drag the blonde outside and skin her alive with his bare hands.

As it was, he simply turned his glare her way and made it very clear that he was incredibly pissed.

For once Shyla did not bring out a witty retort or smart-ass remark; a nervous gulp and a small step back was her only response. She had seen him enough in the ring to know that he could seriously injure or even kill her easily if he was mad enough.

She had only intended playing along with signing him up for porn to be a practical joke. It was simply too good an opportunity to pass up to try and snap a quick picture of his face when he realized just what he was getting into before she shooed the director and his two whores away and enjoyed another laugh at his expense.

In hindsight she had vastly overestimated his ability to take a joke.

At least with Junior sticking around she had some support. He clearly wanted to give his employee some space after his performance and not risk rocking the boat any further, but he could tell that he might need to stay and prevent Sasuke from doing something extreme.

"You do realize it was just a joke, right?"

Onyx eyes bored into her skull. If looks could kill she would have died on the spot.

He didn't say anything. He didn't really need to.

"I'm sorry, alright?" It wasn't often the blonde apologized for anything, but it was clear she had gone a few steps too far with this incident.

"I know you were always annoyed with the fangirl attention, I just thought it would be funny to push that button again. I didn't know you would take it like that."

"I am **not** some sexual object to be exploited, woman. How would you feel if he had come up to you with that offer instead?"

"I would have kneed him. Still, it's not quite the same. I thought fucking pornstars was a dream job for guys?"

"You think I want to get laid by having women _paid_ to have sex with me?" the Uchiha countered incredulously, "What kind of loser do you think I am?"

"I don't think you're a loser, but I know that guys your age try to fuck anything hot that moves. I know I was joking earlier, but I was serious when I said you needed some excitement in your life."

Blue eyes began to scan him deeply, in an almost contemplative manner. Almost like the blonde was trying to look for something. A breadcrumb, a footprint, any kind of mark or trail that would lead her to find what she was searching for.

"I must confess, you are the most confusing person I've ever met."

She received no reply. The Uchiha was in no mood to reply, wanting the evening to end with the lowest quantity of speech possible.

"If I hadn't seen you reject guys here as easily as the girls, I would have thought you were gay. You have more opportunities to hook up than most guys could dream of, and yet you toss away your chances without a second thought."

Junior was still in the background. He probably wasn't needed for damage control by this point, but he had a feeling where Shyla was going with this and was curious about what the kid's answer would be.

"What exactly are you looking for, Sasuke?"

She had used his real name.

"How did you turn into this loner that gives no shits about what others think of him, but still cares about his pride and dignity enough to be celibate as a priest?"

It was a question Junior had asked himself several times by now. It was honestly a bit sad. Even if Sasuke was an orphan with no friends or family in the city he should not have had any difficulty getting a woman to warm his bed. No kid his age with his looks should have rejected even simple one-night stands so easily and be wasting some of the best years of his life as a pariah.

It did not speak well for whatever his true backstory was.

The man had met enough people from rough backgrounds to recognize signs of trauma, and his newest employee had plenty of them. Anti-social, rejecting all basic companionship not based on work, sharp reflexes that had to have been either taught or learned far too early in his life to speak of a care-free childhood, and now a fiercely defensive posture on having what he considered his personal life being abused.

He had a traumatic past. And it had not been Grimm who had been responsible.

He wanted to help the kid. He really did. Junior could tell he was good at heart and didn't deserve to live his life in self-imposed misery. His refusal to take advantage of women because of his looks as well as his defense of the two Faunus earlier were proof enough of that.

The problem was that Junior was unsure how exactly to get the kid around his past if he would not reveal it to anyone. And the situation with Melanie and Miltia was not making matters easier.

It was obvious to him that the twins liked him well enough, certainly more than the other losers they dated that were in plentiful supply. He cared for Melanie and Miltia greatly, which was why he was nervous about a relationship between Sasuke and either of them.

A physical relationship between co-workers was playing with fire even under normal circumstances. Add to that the Uchiha's unknown scars and questionable mental health, and it led to a potential disaster.

It was part of the reason he had agreed to have Shyla here as a buffer for him. If he trusted this woman enough to ask that kind of favor, maybe they would hit it off and eliminate the possibility of a workplace-relationship-gone-wrong scenario with the twins.

Unfortunately it appeared that would not be the case. Junior desperately hoped that shit wouldn't hit the fan in the near-future.

"You wouldn't understand."

The Uchiha's short and vague answer was all the information he was willing to give to the disappointment of his two listeners. Though if Junior and Shyla knew who Sasuke Uchiha truly was, they would become firm believers in the saying 'truth is stranger than fiction'.

His reluctance to emotionally open up and form bonds with his peers was entirely to blame on Itachi. It was understandable that trusting others was a bit difficult considering that his own flesh and blood that was supposed to show unconditional love so easily decided to betray him and their family in the worst possible way.

But Junior and Shyla would be mistaken if they thought Sasuke's behavior meant he was unfamiliar with sampling a woman's flesh.

It had certainly not happened overnight. The immaturity and childish nature of Sakura, Ino, and their ilk in his academy days had made a strong negative impression on him that had taken a while to change. Sex and romance had not really taken hold on the young Uchiha's mind when he had left Konoha. He had been too young at the time and his female peers were hardly better than they were before they had become Genin despite Sakura becoming slightly more bearable during their Team Seven days.

And his time with Orochimaru had begun in much the same way. He had not completely gotten out of his version of 'girls are annoying' phase, and was completely and totally focused on exploiting every second he could training with the Sannin and ignoring everything else.

But eventually, like all teenagers going through puberty, he found his mind wandering ever more frequently to the fairer sex. Despite his years of experience ignoring females, he found that his new instincts could not be suppressed without cost.

Ignoring his body's carnal urges was like ignoring his stomach when it was hungry- it could be done, but ignoring it for long periods of time had consequences.

In Sasuke's case, it had come at a mental cost. He was more irritable, easily frustrated, and had trouble focusing. He probably could have eliminated some of these symptoms with the tried and true masturbation strategy that most of his male peers his age did, but the Uchiha's ego was strong enough to draw the line before he got to that point.

The result: increased stress meant he could not train or learn as effectively. This made him more upset, which caused more stress, and made a wonderful positive feedback loop that made him want to strangle someone out of sheer frustration.

It was inevitable at this point that Orochimaru noticed the change in mannerism of his apprentice. And being wise to the ways of the world, the Sannin had immediately identified the problem. And because Orochimaru liked to amuse himself and was a complete _dick_ , he had waited to point Sasuke's problem out until Kabuto had arrived so both of them could enjoy a laugh at his expense.

At that point things had gotten weird. Orochimaru had told him that he would not be training him so long as he was in his current state of mind. And he had followed that declaration with the phrase, "I am not going to begin teaching you again until you grow up and start being an adult."

It essentially translated to: "I'm not going to train you until you fuck someone."

At the time Sasuke was utterly shocked that Orochimaru of all people would care enough about his sex life to make such a demand. It was the last thing he expected from someone who had no trouble with kidnapping, murder, and psychological torture.

He had asked the Snake Sannin as much, to which he had answered in his typical creepy fashion, "I'm going to be stealing your body two years from now. I think I at least owe you the courtesy of ensuring that you get to enjoy the basic pleasures of your carnal urges before that day comes."

Whether Orochimaru had meant what he said was something he did not know to this day. But in hindsight it hadn't really mattered. If he wanted the Sannin to help him get stronger, he had to get laid.

It was certainly an odd motivation to lose his virginity, but it had happened. It helped that the Kunoichi that were in the Land of Sound were older and more mature than what he had remembered from Sakura or Ino, and were hardened enough by growing up in decidedly less affluence that they didn't much care for spending excessive amounts of time worrying about their diet or hair.

And so Sasuke had managed to find a kunoichi, Rei Yukana, who had respectable abilities and work ethic, and a week of awkward talking and light spars later she was in his bed.

It had certainly been awkward for him. Thanks to the massacre he had never had a proper 'talk' from his Father, so even though he knew the basics he was a novice when it came to the finer details.

If his peers from Konoha had learned of how he lost his virginity, they would have assumed that he had treated it as a simple means to an end. Something to be finished as quickly as possible and not bother trying to please his partner so he could go back to training all that much faster.

They were wrong. Sasuke had sworn to avenge his family, but he had also sworn to rebuild it. And that meant that he was well aware that he would eventually have to marry and have children. If Sasuke was forced to start his sex life with someone he knew he would not settle down with, then he would at least put as much practice in as he could to make sure that the woman he eventually did want to spend his life with was completely and utterly satisfied.

Sasuke Uchiha did not give his trust or friendship easily, much less love. He had hated cheap affection since the first fangirl had confessed her 'love' for him, and he fully intended to hold himself to the same standard.

Even for a friends-with-benefits situation, Sasuke was not going to half-ass his sex life.

And once he had seen the metaphorical light, he realized that he did indeed like sex. A lot.

It was exciting to move his hands around her body and feel her do the same; both trying to hold out removing their clothing longer and force the other to make the first move to reveal who wanted the other more. It was satisfying to hear the sharp intake of breath as he first entered and spread her walls. It felt good to thrust back and forth when he was sheathed inside and feel her throw her arms around his body in a tight grip as she tried to pull herself closer to him. It was satisfying beyond words when she looked at him as he was getting closer to release and feel her wrap her legs around him to make sure he would not cum anywhere but inside. There was a sense of pride when he heard her heavy breathing, her gasps, her small squeaks, and her shouts of pleasure as he gradually found, identified, and targeted the areas on her body she felt the most pleasure. The sense of excitement as he felt his load build up, and the sense of utter euphoria as he released were beyond words. It was fulfilling to see her legs tremble as she lost herself in her own pleasure and feel her vulva tighten around his length as her own orgasm ran through her. It was an unbelievable ego boost when after a few minutes of silent afterglow, she said she would take him back to her place next time. And last but not least, for the first time in years instead of feeling fear or anxiety at having his body and feelings (carnal though they were) exposed to someone, he felt a warm and pleasant sense of comfort instead.

And so, he had continued exploring this new aspect of life that until now had been unknown. Training with Orochimaru meant that he had to follow the Sannin as he switched bases regularly to hide his location from probing Hidden Villages or from the Akatsuki, so his fling with his first woman only lasted three days. He had continued this trend at the new location, though it took a while to find a kunoichi that fit his standards.

Just because he was a bit more receptive to women didn't mean the Uchiha was going to become man-whore trash. He knew first-hand the stupidity of judging one based on appearances alone, and it would be a cold day in hell before he slept with a woman just because she was hot. As horrible at conversations as he was, getting to know the other person was a checkbox that had to be filled by both participants before Sasuke would even begin to consider a tumble.

Commitment was important to him too. It had to be considering the cutthroat nature of shinobi in general (not to mention whores of both genders were cheap and disgusting). One-night stands were something he was _never_ going to participate in, and pigs would fly before he slept with a woman he hadn't know and interacted with for less than 48 hours. He was certainly willing to have a roll in the sheets _if_ he found someone he liked, but his standards were still high enough that he preferred sleeping by himself in over three-fourths of the hideouts they stayed at.

In this new world, there was no one he had yet met that he would share the night with. Not that it wasn't tempting sometimes- a dry spell lasting three weeks and counting was starting to wear on him. But the fact remained that he had not, and likely never would, meet someone in the protected Kingdom of Vale who could truly understand his background enough to have some small level of unconditional trust that he needed to have before physically opening himself to them.

Huntsmen and Huntresses in this world had a very simple black-and-white job: kill Grimm. That was pretty much it. There was nothing else to consider. Shinobi back home would turn green with envy if their job was that simple.

Sasuke was born to be a shinobi. Shinobi protected their village like the Huntsmen and Huntresses of this realm, but that was where the similarities ended. They were expected to spy on, steal, and kill members of rival villages or even seemingly innocent targets. Sometimes for nothing more than a large payment. The profession was not an easy one: you were expected to put yourself at risk to some of the worst human behavior imaginable or commit it yourself.

The people here had no concept of such moral ambiguity. The civilians he had seen walking around the city were so sheltered from the forces that wished for their destruction that most had no concept of burying a teammate or a spouse. They had no idea what it was like to have to draw straws and decide which comrade would remain behind and either be killed or captured. The notion that they had to be watching for suspicious behavior from 'allies' in case there were turncoats was an alien thought.

In practical terms it meant the Uchiha was a stranger here in more ways than just where he was born and what language he grew up speaking. The people of Remnant had grown up being told that the greatest threat to their survival was the Grimm. The people of his world had grown up being told that their greatest threat came from other people who happened to have been born on the other side of a border that had been drawn at the end of a previous war.

Even putting cultural differences aside, the Uchiha was reluctant to risk partaking in sex here. There was no telling if someone's ex might get mad at him and start digging a bit too much into his history for comfort. The only realistic way around that was to cheapen the encounter even more to where no possible exes would care; something called a 'fuck-buddy' in this world.

It was hardly a step up from the abhorrent one-night stands that were popular here for some reason; and the Uchiha would rather adorn a chastity belt than sacrifice his pride and principles on _that_.

Shyla, Melanie, and Miltia probably came the closest to meeting his standards, but there were several problems with them in addition to the issues of exes and trust.

Shyla had an attitude and a resolve that he could respect, but she knew so many people that there was a chance one of them would check his background too far to ensure he had a clean enough history. Even if it was annoying, he could handle her attitude no problem. He had endured far worse with Naruto. But if it came down to physical intimacy… well, civilians were a bit too fragile for him to handle in the bedroom. It was hard to control or restrain chakra-enhanced strength in the middle of an orgasm.

The twins were like him in that they held high standards for those they chose to associate with, something he had seen many times when they were approached by patrons daring enough to risk talking to them. He hadn't seen them in action in a fight, but the fact that they had aura meant that they had formal training of some kind despite the high-class impression they gave. It spoke well of their priorities. Unfortunately starting a relationship with either one ran the risk of alienating the other due to not being chosen or becoming a third wheel. Not to mention if something went wrong, Junior was well capable of exposing his fake ID to whoever he wanted. Better to stay as co-workers only.

With that in mind the Uchiha decided to indulge in a rare drink to at least taste something with more flavor than water in the hopes it would calm his still simmering temper. Shyla and Junior would no doubt be disappointed at his refusal to answer her question, but it wasn't like he cared. Working with them did not mean he owed either of them answers about his personal background.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

"Andy, what the hell is going on? This is the third time in five days! You and your colleagues are supposed to know about computers, so why are they still fucking up!?"

"I'm sorry, sir! We've ran every diagnostic we can on everything in the store, but we can't find anything wrong. I… I don't know what to tell you."

"Motherfucking goddamn it! Put the damn things in storage! Get with your teammates, I want a timeline of when this shit started, what was affected, and ideas for what the hell we're going to do about this! And I want it in ten minutes! Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

Andy quickly drew a notepad from his pocket while several of his colleagues lifted the aforementioned computers to carry them to the stock room, desperately trying to think of what they were going to do about their situation.

Andy worked at a popular electronics store. In the middle of the afternoon three days ago, a swath of their TV's, of both 2D and 3D variety, suddenly started acting out. They would sometimes turn off or on, the volume would change, channels would go to static, brightness would vary, and for some of the 2D ones half of their screen would either shut off or show static while the other half would perform normally. And the TV's would do this all by themselves. No remote, no person messing with it, nothing.

It had been jokingly called a ghost or poltergeist, but the phenomenon continued with more of the items in the store being affected. Computers, Scrolls, Laptops, even the lights in the store developed the same habit of suddenly ignoring the settings and intended functions their creators intended for them. And it turned out it was hard to sell scrolls if the employees at the store couldn't figure out why they didn't work the way they should.

They had tried everything. Diagnostics of every kind, switching components, calling the supplier, none of it to any effect. The only effective way to stop this abnormality was to remove the power source. Not just turning it off; no, batteries had to be physically removed.

No one had any idea of what to do, but the silver lining was that several other competing stores had the exact same problem as well as some of the surrounding buildings. It was the only thing that was preventing his boss from firing some of the less experienced staff out of sheer frustration.

Unknown to Andy the cause of his woes was sitting quite comfortably across the street from the store at a small café, sipping slowly on a cup of tea.

Sasuke Uchiha appeared calm, almost apathetic to anyone who saw him right now. Just enjoying the newborn night while relaxing with a drink. Underneath his exterior, he was as focused as a snake before the strike.

His current activity was the result of a creative moment on his part. He had been sifting through a book on modern technology- the first inventions, the improvements over time, and the resulting tsunami of improvement and change that had been brought to the world of Remnant. He had scarcely gotten through the second paragraph of the Electronics section that gave the bare-bones basics of how such devices worked when he took note of a seemingly obvious fact: electronic devices of all kinds required electricity to work.

Electricity just like the kind he had learned to remotely manipulate with astounding scale and precision with his Kirin technique.

At that point he had put two and two together and asked the obvious question: would he be able to manually manipulate the minute electricity and the electric currents in electronics with his Kirin ability?

The answer was yes. Yes he could.

Sasuke could not stop an 'I just had something go my way' grin from forming when he realized this. Electronic devices such as primitive TVs and radios did exist in his home world, but they were rare enough on missions that such an ability would only be of marginal use there. But for the here and now, on Remnant, this was the best ability he could have asked for.

He had been incredibly worried about the superior technology of this world the moment it became apparent to him, and he had reason to be. Airborne craft that could attack or simply track him outside of his attack range, guns and other firearms, vehicles of all kinds, there were no shortage of things he had to be wary of if he was discovered.

An **enormous** part of that threat was rendered utterly useless with this ability. Communications such as radios, CCT receivers and transmitters, and scrolls were at his mercy. Electronic locks, computers of all kinds, the avionics that kept aircraft stable and flying, smart navigation devices, firearms that had electronic locks, all of them could be disabled in an instant with no loss of chakra.

That being said, the ability was not perfect. He could manipulate natural lightning from miles away with accuracy without any problem because the writhing mass was so large and obvious that 'linking' his Kirin ability to control it was as easy as hitting the broadside of a barn with a kunai. The targets here were different animals.

The electricity inside Scrolls and Computers were not flying about freely just ready to be directed somewhere like in a thunderstorm. They were inside tiny pieces of metal and machinery and were stable enough where they were, so it took more effort to get them to move around as he liked.

The fact that the quantity of electricity was orders of magnitude smaller than what he was used to didn't help. It was like trying to use a shovel to pick up a grain of sand.

With these limitations it was no surprise that his effective range of use was only two to three hundred yards if he wanted to affect only a single object. He was confident he could improve this with further practice, which was what he was doing now. Trying to see if he could improve his accuracy to affect one device and leave its neighbors several feet away unaffected.

He was having mixed results, but he had discovered that he could even turn on devices that were physically switched off. He could only do so if they were directly connected to their power source such as an outlet or batteries. Unfortunately he had been forced to stop trying to further test this once he realized using his ability to manually override the power switch meant he had to use a small amount of his chakra to do so.

The other limitation was that while he pretty much had free reign on the hardware of a device, it's programming and software was not something he could affect. He could manipulate the electricity in an electronic lock to force it to open or close, but he could not use it to find the actual combination for said lock, close an open window on a computer screen, or hack a website located on a distant server.

Even with these drawbacks it left him in a much better situation. No prison had a chance in hell of holding him now.

And he was getting better with practice. He was able to focus on the electronics in 'only' half of the store now, compared to blacking out half a block when he had first started.

This exercise was also helping his chakra control to boot. He did not need to 'burn' any chakra to use Kirin, but it did require manipulating it. And like learning to manipulate chakra to his feet for the tree-walking ability, learning to ever-more precisely conduct his chakra with this was improving his control even more.

A vibration from his scroll interrupted his session. Sasuke quickly opened it and scanned the new message he received from Junior.

' **Get to the Club now. Need you.'**

The Uchiha quickly finished his drink before getting up to leave, having already paid the tab. It was unfortunate that his practice was cut short, but it was probably serious circumstances. It was his day off, so Junior would not have called him in unless he really needed him. He just hoped there wasn't some idiot there picking a fight that was a bit too much for Melanie and Miltia to handle.

He arrived at his destination in minutes via rooftops, and there was clearly something up when he saw the rest of the henchmen. They were a bit too tense for a normal night. Sasuke decided to get to the bottom of why he had been called in and walked up to his nearest 'colleague'.

"Where is Junior?"

"He's on the top floor in a meeting. He wants you there for it."

"Hn."

The Uchiha had barely made it to the staircase when he saw one of Junior's regular henchmen being roughly pushed back by someone out of his line of sight. The man had not been shoved hard enough to fall over, but his body language was telling of a man who was nervously trying to back out of a conflict with an opponent he knew he couldn't defeat.

That wasn't good. If he didn't think he could win even surrounded by allies then he was likely facing a Hunter of some kind. Just the type of problem he was hired to deal with, since the twins were likely with Junior upstairs.

Meeting with his employer would have to wait until he had taken care of whatever moron had decided to pick a fight.

He walked up silently, and it was only when he was almost on top of them did he lay eyes on the aggressor.

It was a woman. A very short woman with a unique hairstyle that was brown on her left side and pink on her right. Her eyes were similarly mismatched with brown and pink irises adorning the corresponding sides of her face as her hair. She was sharply dressed in a white jacket with a brown corset and a pair of the highest-heeled boots he had ever seen. Her hand was notably gripping an umbrella despite the fact that there had been no rain recently nor had there been any prediction of it. And as he approached, he could sense that the woman possessed aura.

' _A Huntress'_

A split second of further observation, however, solidly disproved that theory. An honest Huntress would not be in the business of picking fights with civilians at bars. And she would most certainly not be sporting a smile that suggested she enjoyed picking on people who were weaker than her.

That meant she was either a rogue Huntress or a criminal of some kind who had practiced or been trained to use aura. And that did not bode well for him.

The logical part of his brain had been hoping that his stay in Remnant would be as eventless as possible, and he would work his jobs without having to face Remnant's equivalent to Shinobi. It looked like that would not be the case.

He wasn't going to back out. Hopefully he could just get her to walk away, but that grin on her face told him it probably wasn't going to be that easy. This was not someone who was starting a fight for some final objective such as money, revenge, or preserving their reputation. That smile was only worn by one of the rarest type of people- the kind that enjoyed to fight or bully because the act itself was enjoyable to them.

He was confident he would win a fight if it came down to it. Even if he didn't use his Ninjutsu or Sharingan he had already been contemplating how to best fight a Hunter if he happened to face one in battle. He had read up on aura, their basic training, mission profiles, and anything else that would give him a leg up. He had come up with several solid ideas for the best way to bring them down, and then backup plans for those in case they didn't work.

Luckily she seemed to be by herself. And if she was on the wrong side of the law he didn't have to worry about being reported to other Hunters.

Sasuke placed a hand on the shoulder of the woman's latest target before gently pushing him out of the way to directly face off with her.

"Get out, woman."

The female in question only slightly raised her brow in response, not expecting someone so young to try and demand anything from her. Her smile then began to grow a bit, obviously pleased that another 'weak' victim had delivered themselves to her.

She only leaned back a bit in her chair, not at all bothered by his statement. Still, though, she said no word in response.

"Boss, I think she's a mute. She's only pointed her hands and shit since she came in."

"She doesn't need to use her tongue to walk out."

The Uchiha's sharp retort only seemed to amuse the woman, who was now lightly chuckling at him. It was clear she thought he was some stupid kid in over his head.

Too bad for her, his show of intimidation was not a bluff.

' _Going to be the hard way, then'_

He didn't know if the woman was someone who only enjoyed bullying others and turning into a coward when the tables were turned or one of the psychotic battle freaks that enjoyed violence no matter which end of it they were at. He would find out soon enough.

He gave a slight nod to the henchman operating the door so he would be able to open it to allow him to throw her out without breaking anything before the man he had stepped in to help interrupted.

"Boss, you shouldn't start anything with her, she came in w-"

The woman chose that moment to swing her umbrella toward him in an attempt to catch the collar of his shirt in the handle. The henchman sounded like he was trying to defuse the fight, but the woman was clearly of the opinion that violence was more fun.

Too bad for her, the strike was going in slow motion compared to what he was used to. A quick step to the side avoided the surprise attack, and a split-second later his hand had shot forward to grip the umbrella's handle.

The woman's eyes didn't even had time to begin to widen in surprise before he pulled hard on the umbrella, lifting her over his head in an attempt to smash her into the ground.

Unlike his fight with BoneSaw, Sasuke was taking this fight seriously. This wasn't some muscle-bound civilian with no 'superhuman' abilities, this was a trained fighter that possessed aura. She was the strongest opponent he had faced in Remnant so far, and just because he had studied up on aura didn't mean he knew everything about it.

He was aware of its passive protection and minor healing abilities, but he had no idea about specifics such as how much he would have to damage it before it ran out. Hopefully he could end the fight quick and not risk too much.

Because he needed to at least land a blow that would damage her aura, it had to be a hard hit. He wasn't going to bother not using chakra-enhanced strength this time. Though he would have to hold back to not cause too much damage to the building.

As the woman neared the height of her arc however, she abruptly twisted her body 180 degrees with noteworthy flexibility and speed to land on her feet instead of her head.

It was an impressive maneuver to pull off when she had not been expecting him to counterattack at all. It spoke volumes of her reaction time, as well as her general fighting style.

' _Even with aura, she's too small to be a brawler. Acrobatics, misdirection, and control of her and her opponent's momentum and leverage are going to be how she fights. That umbrella she's got probably has a concealed blade or gun that I need to watch out for, and she can probably use its open form to block or deflect attacks. So, her umbrella and her heeled boots and kicks are going to be her primary methods of delivering damage. She's going to be able to shift and maneuver extremely quickly to avoid hits or to grab me and throw me with any momentum she has from jumping around.'_

It wasn't too different from his own Taijutsu preference, which also emphasized deflection and evasiveness as well as speed. It also meant he had a good idea of how to take her out.

Predictable attacks that were slow to launch would all be easily evaded, and she would no doubt counterattack when her opponent left themselves open after their failed assault. Unorthodox and quick strikes that were too quick to move herself around were going to be the way for him to go here. The acrobatics she was showing him also depended heavily on her ability to orient herself and to mind her surroundings. If she tried to re-position herself in mid-air without realizing she was going to land on stairs, she would hit the ground on her face. He was going to have to throw her with spin or something to make it more difficult for her to pull another feline-based landing on her feet or push her somewhere she didn't have room to maneuver.

This analysis and basic strategy went through the Uchiha's head before her feet had even reached the ground. She had landed upright, but the force he had used was enough to create a web of cracks around the woman's feet and an impact noise that was powerful enough to lightly slosh any drinks that were setting on their tables.

The woman's knees slightly buckled from the force involved, but she didn't seem to notice. Her wide eyes were fixed on him now, utterly shocked he had avoided her attack and almost landed one of his own. A smirk that showed pure white teeth chose that moment to make its way to her face. She was not deterred that she wouldn't have an easy fight; quite the contrary.

The Uchiha was proven right about her attack preference when she dashed forward underneath her weapon in an attempt to grab his arm while simultaneously throwing a sweeping kick to trip him. A clear attempt to either throw him or set up a heavier kick.

It was doomed to fail. Sasuke did not have the passive protection of aura, but chakra granted him several advantages over his opponent. One of the less obvious of these was the Chakra Adhesion ability that the tree and water walking abilities were based off.

It was a simple ability. Sticking a portion of your body to another object you were touching. It didn't sound impressive, but it changed the game in this situation.

Using Chakra Adhesion to grip the back of an enemies' head without actually using your fingers and throw them was quicker and easier than using fingers. However, the ability was so common amongst shinobi that using this ability on each other directly like that was a colossal waste of time. One shinobi could cancel out an enemy's Chakra Adhesion with their own with no effort at all. It was no surprise then that the ability was mostly restricted to keeping an extra grip on weapons as well as walking and fighting on various atypical surfaces.

And because it was used to provide extra grip for whatever surface the feet were on, it was far more difficult than it looked to make a shinobi loose their footing.

And so the Uchiha let the kick land on his extended leg knowing full well she was wasting her time. The kick was strong, enough to give him a flash of pain, but his leg did not budge an inch.

The woman let out an almost mute gasp in shock as her attack failed yet again, though this time she had no idea how. Before she could think of any way to continue her failed attack she felt a hand grip her ankle with more force than she had ever thought possible.

Like before, she was lifted into the air. But unlike last time, her victim (although that title was a bit questionable now) twisted his wrist to counteract her attempt to turn herself upright.

The floor was assaulted by another powerful impact that created another network of spiderweb cracks. But instead of feet being the points of contact, it was the woman's face that met the floor this time.

It hadn't penetrated her aura, but Sasuke could sense that her protective field had taken a bit of damage. And as he lifted her up to set up a front kick, he realized that she did not try to right herself to get out of his grip like he had expected. A glance at her face revealed that while she was certainly still conscious, she was slightly disoriented from the face-plant he had put her through.

He couldn't help but smirk a bit once he realized that this confirmed a theory he had about a potential weakness of aura. He had read that aura covered the body and protected it from injury, but based on its description it did not seem to provide any protection to the body's interior. He hadn't been able to test it until now, but it appeared he had been right.

The disorientation the woman was currently showing could only be the result of a sudden hit to the head that had forced her brain to hit the inside of her skull none-too gently. If aura had protected the entire body, inside and out, this would not have been the case. The aura would have shielded her brain from the impact and she would have kept fighting as though nothing had happened.

Aura was not a flawless shield it seemed. It meant that even if he couldn't physically penetrate the shield with standard attacks, he could still inflict internal damage. Ripping joints from their sockets, hits to the abdomen strong enough to displace the air in lungs, and breaking bones were all still going to work even with aura dampening the effects.

With that in mind, the Uchiha threw his foot forward to land a solid kick straight to her stomach, launching her into the wall a few feet behind her while twisting his hand to wrest the umbrella from her grasp.

Before she could recover Sasuke borrowed a page from her playbook and used the umbrella's handle to hook the back of her neck. He then pulled hard to jerk her head forward straight into a knee strike.

Her aura protected her from the worst of the hit, but it didn't stop her from spewing out spittle and the cartilage in her nose to painfully protest being subjected to the attack.

Realizing he should end this before he was responsible for more property damage, the Uchiha then lifted the woman completely off the ground with one hand locked on the back of her neck and the other supporting her on the lower love handle.

Positioning her almost like a javelin, Sasuke then threw her straight through the open door thirty feet away. He made sure to put enough spin on her body that she would be unable to adjust herself properly in mid-air to catch herself on the wall outside. The satisfying crack of broken masonry as she hit the wall head-first with almost enough force to go straight through was enough evidence that his efforts succeeded.

Sasuke then threw the umbrella in his hand like a kunai to embed itself in the brick inches above the woman's head.

' _Well, that was a bit of a disappointment.'_

He had hoped that aura-users would be a bit more capable. That hadn't been too hard.

The Uchiha turned around to once again try and make his way upstairs. The woman was not yet beaten, but he was confident she would not be coming back to fight what was clearly a losing battle.

He ignored the henchmen who were staring slack-jawed at his performance- he needed to see Junior and get whatever task he was needed for done quickly so he could go back to his apartment. With his electronics interference training done for the day, it was time to work on the seal again.

He had just reached the third floor when he heard a grunt of pain from below him. Looking down, he saw one of the henchmen lying on his back completely winded from a blow of some kind.

A glance toward the door revealed that the heterochromia woman had re-entered and had thrown down a guard trying to talk her out of coming back in. She didn't care about her latest victim nor the fact that her prim appearance was marred by torn cloth and bits of rubble. She only had eyes for the raven-haired teenager at the top of the stairs.

She wanted another round.

There was a bit of visible anger present at being bested by someone whom she had initially thought was inferior. But that was overshadowed by a conflicting emotion: excitement. The confident smirk had been replaced by an eager grin that showed she was not deterred in the slightest by her previous humiliation. She wanted to fight again.

The Uchiha was willing to oblige, and jumped down straight to the floor. The few patrons there had started rushing out the door upon sensing the impending fight. It was not a smart idea to stick around a fight that could kill them if they were caught up in it.

For the first time since he got to Remnant, Sasuke wanted to fight. There was no logical reason for him to be eager to battle the woman, but his heart had begun to step in. He had spent grueling months training under the most despicable people to be the best he could be. He had poured sweat and blood into his efforts just so he could obtain the strength he needed and be superior to those around him. This wasn't some worthless civilian brawler- this was Remnant's counterpart to shinobi like him. He had his pride as an Uchiha as well as his pride for his own achievements and progress that were both screaming at him to battle and prove his supremacy. If she wanted to cross swords with him this badly, he would beat her to the ground and enjoy every second of it.

At that moment, for both Sasuke and the woman, the rest of the world vanished. It was just the two of them standing a few paces from each other with the exact same motive: defeat your opponent to prove that you can.

Then they moved.

Both combatants shot forward, the Uchiha's Kusanagi sword drawn from its sheath before being blocked by the woman's umbrella. She shifted to the left to flank his blade and brought up her leg for a swift kick aimed for his head. Sasuke ducked his head to avoid the hit and grabbed the extended limb before completing a half-turn and once again throwing her with corkscrew spin to make it difficult for her to recover.

This time however, the woman opened her umbrella and slowed her velocity enough to almost float down to the ground in an almost graceful manner.

' _So it's not just a weapon- she uses it as an air brake to slow herself down if she needs to.'_

The umbrella was actually a very practical weapon for her then. Using an umbrella to slow themselves down would not work for most people due to their mass, but she was small and light enough for such a trick to work.

She turned on her feet as soon as they touched down and bent her knees to prepare herself to jump back at him.

At that moment, however, the Uchiha felt the area around the woman… shift, for lack of a better word. He could still see her and feel her aura there, but it felt almost fuzzy now. Like she had somehow spread some of it out around her. It was a similar feeling one had when they were placed in a Genjutsu that attempted to fool their senses.

Any shinobi worth their salt knew how to break a Genjutsu. But identifying the very fine differences in the perception of the world around them to figure out they were in a Genjutsu illusion to begin with was more difficult if said Genjutsu was meant to be subtle enough that the victim was not supposed to know they had been subjected to it. Small differences in perception of colors, objects whose outlines which were slightly bent or elongated, and sounds that were ever so slightly abnormal in volume or pitch were all signs that a shinobi's senses had been hijacked.

The Uchiha was seeing several such signs around the outline of the woman now springing forward. The pink lights behind her were a shade darker than they should have been and the floor tiles were almost imperceptibly twisted to the left.

She had not put him under Genjutsu- even without his Sharingan activated he was more than capable of identifying and breaking out of Jonin-level illusions. The only explanation left was that she had somehow used her aura to make a perceptible illusion in the real world in front of him instead of inside his mind. It was similar to making a standard clone that had no substance; creating a solid image that served as a diversion or deception.

It was likely her Semblance, the unique individual power that Hunters developed. And that meant that she effectively had no more tricks for him.

Determining that the woman advancing on him was a false image, it was not in his interest to attack or block it. The woman would not have the image charging him otherwise. So if this was a diversion, it followed that she would set up a real attack from his flank or above him- probably somewhere she was still close enough to her illusion to control it if she had to. There was nothing on his left but open floor; hardly the best position to launch an attack. On his right, though, was a set of stairs that were relatively close to him and had less lighting in the corner they were in.

' _If I was setting up an attack to take advantage of a diversion, that's where I would be'_

The Uchiha pivoted toward the stairs, holding Kusanagi in a reverse-grip to intercept the attack. His analysis was proven right as the visible woman charging him shattered as she made contact with his body; almost like breaking glass. The fuzzy perception of her aura was destroyed with her illusion, and the woman suddenly appeared in front of him.

Her umbrella contacted his sword, failing to make contact. However, the Uchiha noticed too late as she drove forward that she had used her other hand to take off the handle of her umbrella. His previous theory that her weapon housed a hidden blade was confirmed as he saw that the handle doubled as a small rapier.

Sasuke moved back enough to avoid a hit to his shoulder, but the woman managed to stab the blade into his lower triceps successfully.

Ignoring the stinging sensation and the blood starting to emerge from the wound, he landed a fast kick to his assailant's torso before she could capitalize on her hit. She was forced away, glancing off and breaking a glass column before once again opening her umbrella to stop her trajectory.

She was staring at him with an open mouth and eyes widened in unabashed shock. This kid was giving her a lot more trouble than she had thought, but what she had just seen was nothing short of astonishing. He had never seen her Semblance before, but he had _instantly_ discerned the illusion was a decoy. She didn't have the slightest clue how he had figured it out so quickly, but the fact that he didn't even bother to dodge the illusion meant that he had never had any doubt whatsoever that it was fake.

He hadn't been able to avoid her hidden blade; she had been too close for him to avoid that since she had not shown her rapier yet. But that still raised more questions for her.

The metal had not penetrated as far as she would have guessed, only about halfway through his arm if she were to estimate it. If he had aura, it would have been deflected off after her hit had taken a bit of his protective armor with it. But since her blade had cut him and drawn his blood, it was obvious he did not have aura. It was therefore very strange that his flesh seemed far tougher to penetrate than it should have been.

And he didn't have aura. None. Never, in all her years of life had she **ever** heard of anyone who did not possess aura but could fight on par and possibly defeat someone who did. It was unheard of. And his hand-to-hand skills were the best she had ever seen. She had specialized in close combat for her entire life as a hired assassin, and she had not yet met anyone who could match her skills without resorting to a semblance or raw power to beat her.

But this guy was _better_ than her in close-fighting. He was matching her blow for blow and then some. And he was doing it with a handicap.

This man was a monster.

The slack-jawed mouth turned into a grin large enough to fully reveal her teeth in her front and lower jaws. She was going to have more fun here than she had thought.

The Uchiha shot forward at speeds that shamed that of her illusion, swinging his sword at her arm that held her blade to force her to block with that instead of leaving her best weapon free to counter him with. She barely opened her umbrella once again, successfully deflecting his strike with a thin yet strong canopy that resisted his attempts to penetrate it and showcasing yet another practical function her umbrella served as a weapon.

The woman was forced to take a step back from the strike. She then turning her body to take advantage to the gifted momentum to flip over her advancing opponent. She landed on her feet, thrusting her rapier forward to try and land a hit from behind while closing her umbrella to give herself more speed. Still, Sasuke was fast enough to pivot in the blink of an eye to deflect it with his sword.

She continued her forward trajectory, using her foot to make a small jump over his body. She twisted herself in mid-air, swinging her leg down hard to strike him in the head. Sasuke leaned back just enough to avoid the hit, but felt the woman's following leg hook around his neck. She used the leverage to swing herself around behind him to set up a strong kick to the back of his head.

It would have connected if it weren't for the Uchiha instantly activating a little-used skill amongst shinobi: Chakra Repulsion. It was a fancy name for what was essentially just the tree-walking ability with the chakra focused to repel what the user was in contact with instead of stick to it. It wasn't of much use to any shinobi as it couldn't repel objects or surfaces with any real force; being only equivalent to making gripping a user feel like trying to hold on to a live fish covered in melted butter. It was easily countered by other shinobi the same way that Chakra Adhesion was. But like the former, the Uchiha had a monopoly on the ability here.

So, the woman found her foot sliding off her target by some phenomenon unknown to her. Only to have the Uchiha swing his leg straight up, bringing it down on her horizontally-positioned body in a flawless ax-kick. She was still in mid-air, and had no surface or leverage to push off of to change direction, and took the hit on the lower boundary of her ribs.

Rolling away to avoid the follow-up stomp from the other foot aimed at her head, she once again aimed her rapier and slashed across in a horizontal cut aimed straight at his throat. Sasuke leaned back inches to avoid the blade before reversing his motion to advance his shoulders and torso forward. Before she could so much as blink he had shot out his arm, and briefly saw the back of a hand before she felt a blunt force on the entire right side of her face and found herself flying across the room.

It was only after she had bounced off the floor and stopped by the wall that she realized she had just been _bitch-slapped_.

She had barely gotten off her knees before she was forced to block yet another blindingly quick assault.

Parry, block, block, punch to the arm. Parry, dodge, a slash to her hand. Turn, parry, twist, jump, a kick to her calf.

The Uchiha was greatly enjoying himself, but it was time to get this over with. He had shifted his basic attack strategy once he had realized a curious fact about aura during his fight: it did not protect vital areas any more than anywhere else.

It seemed like an advantage when he had first heard about it; and in a way it was. He had been trained to fight like a shinobi. And that meant that he did not have any aura or protection. So an attack to the heart, neck, or some other vulnerable area would be a one-hit kill if it was landed. As such shinobi such as himself always went out of their way to protect their own vital areas and target their enemy's. A kunai that was stabbed into a target's hand wouldn't do the attacker much good if their victim could use their other hand to place their own kunai across the aggressor's throat.

But aura changed the rules. He had landed several hits on the woman, but from what he could tell the blows she had taken to her more important areas had not dropped her aura levels any more or less that hits to her less important areas. It meant that with standard weapons and Taijutsu, he would not be landing any critical hits until he wore her aura off.

But upon closer inspection, this uniform protection aura provided could be used to his advantage. He couldn't get any one-hit kill shots in, that was true. But it also meant that there was now no reason to prioritize hits on one part of her body or the other. A slash to her pinkie toe would do just as much damage as a slash to her jugular. All the areas of the body that a shinobi such as himself would usually ignore: the ears, the shoulder blades, every square inch of arms and legs that did not have an artery or crucial tendon beneath them, the glutes, all of them were just as useful to hit as the heart or throat.

He wasn't going to be bringing any Huntsmen or Huntresses down in a single standard slash or stab, but he had a much greater target area.

And so he switched to quick strikes anywhere on her body that could hinder or interrupt her preferred flipping and turning movements: jabs to her elbows, small yet fast kicks to her knees and ankles to trip and throw her off, punches to her arms and shoulders to prevent her from swinging her weapons straight, and hits on her back while she foolishly turned her back to him while trying to twist around to shift her direction. This fighting style actually closely resembled the Gentle Fist the Hyuuga practiced in appearance.

He wasn't hitting particularly hard. He was mostly focused on making the hits fast enough and in rapid succession so she did not have enough time to deflect or avoid them and prevent her from swinging herself around to his flank or back to counterattack. A favorite tactic of hers, he noticed.

Hit after hit and blow after blow quickly started taking their toll. Within seconds the woman was hastily retreating in desperation to get enough distance to find some way to get around his flurry of assaults. She had no alternative- there was no way she could breach his defenses head-on.

But her aura was fading quickly, and right as she backed up against the wall the Uchiha decided to end their game.

He brought his sword high to prepare for a powerful overhead slash. With her back almost against the wall with little room to maneuver, she threw her umbrella forward to open it and block the attack.

Exactly what he wanted.

Faster that the eye could see Sasuke shot his hand forward to grip the umbrella in a vice-grip, preventing her from opening it to shield herself. Her eyes widened as she realized he had learned enough about her fighting style to predict when she would open her umbrella and had exploited it.

She was now defenseless as instead of swinging his sword down, he used the umbrella to pull her up off the ground. He then leapt into the air, spinning around to land a hard reverse roundhouse kick that was strong enough to rocket her straight into the ceiling. She was embedded deep enough in the cracked and splintered wood that it took a few seconds for her to detach and start to fall.

Right before she landed on the floor beneath her, Sasuke sheathed his Kusanagi and swung his body around to deliver a picture-perfect elbow strike to her stomach.

Spewing out spit and some of her lung capacity, the woman was shot to the wall behind her hard enough to leave an impression on the masonry. Before she could inhale a gulp of air, the Uchiha lunged forward and buried his fist in her gut hard enough to bypass the meager protection of her little remaining aura to both force the remaining air from her lungs and damage surrounding organs and tissues enough to cause local contusions and internal bleeding.

Choking from lack of air, the Uchiha mercilessly wrapped his hand around the woman's throat to end their fight for good despite the pitiful attempts on her part to pry his grip loose or kick him off now that her aura was drained completely. He wasn't going to kill her, but he was going to squeeze until she lost consciousness and throw her out in an alley somewhere where she would eventually wake up.

And still, she was smiling. That excited grin had never left her face during their entire fight.

There was a hint of fear and a bit of surprise that she had been beaten, but she still looked as excited as when they had first clashed. A bit of happiness as well, and some… ecstasy? It was hard to read her facial expression now that her brain had been deprived of oxygen for as long as it had as the muscles around her eyes and mouth were slowly forced to relax.

"What the hell is going on out here?"

Junior chose that moment to walk out to the third-floor balcony, eyes quickly widening in shock and horror at the damage to his club. Melanie and Miltia followed behind him and had their jaws drop when they saw just how much the place had been redecorated. His henchmen that were still present were huddled around the edge of the room, and Junior quickly locked his eyes on the only person in the middle who was clearly responsible for the mess.

"Sasuke, what the fuck did you do!?"

"This woman was assaulting one of your men when I got here. I threw her out, but she came back. So I subdued her."

Realizing that Sasuke was holding someone, Junior's eyes widened when he realized who he had been fighting.

"Sasuke, let her go! She's with-"

"Am I going to have to come out here and help you take care of this?"

Sasuke abruptly turned his head to the top floor upon hearing an unfamiliar voice. It was owned by a man in a white suit in a bowler hat, brandishing a cane that he surely didn't need to walk in one hand and a smoking cigar in the other. He was walking almost lazily, waving his cane back and forth.

The twins quickly got out of his way, clearly not wishing to antagonize the man.

"Holy shit! Did a tornado come through here? Whoa, whoa, what the hell?! Drop the girl, kid!"

' _So that's who she was with'_

Sasuke didn't know who this man was, but if he was talking with Junior in a private room and had wanted the twins and himself here for it, he was no doubt important. And he had just beaten up the woman he had brought with him. He was no doubt going to have some explaining to do.

The Uchiha relinquished his grip, letting the woman crumple to the floor and begin to unconsciously make small gasps for air.

The man as well as Junior and the Twins were quickly making their way down once they realized that the girl was not getting to her feet.

"Goddamn it, Neo get up!"

The man had just made it to the bottom of the stairs when the now-named Neo took in a sharp breath of air with a small gasp that had a bit of a gurgle to it.

Junior heaved a sigh of relief when he saw it. He had not wanted to be responsible for the death of Roman's help. He couldn't imagine he would have survived the fallout.

The twins were openly staring at him in shock, almost like his first night here after his drinking performance. They had both heard of Neo and how deceptively strong she was. Even from what they had seen from Sasuke, they never would have guessed he could take her in a fight. Much less give her a beatdown like this.

"You alright, Neo? You're shaking a bit…"

Neo was quietly groaning, slowly rising to her hands and knees with trembling limbs. Her skin was now clammy and an unhealthy pale hue. Gasping for air, she halted her slow rise as her abdomen gave a lurching sound loud enough for everyone present to hear.

"What the hell was th-?"

Neo abruptly vomited a small puddle of what appeared to be stomach bile mixed with an unhealthy amount of blood. The twins took a step back with a grimace expression while the man stared in what appeared to be a state of disbelief. The small woman continued to cough up small amounts of red fluid as the man rounded on the Uchiha with a look that conveyed that he was simultaneously very upset and very curious.

"Kid, just who the hell do you think you are?"

"My name is Sasuke. I was called in by Junior tonight for some reason. I assume now it was to meet you. I saw your subordinate physically assault one of Junior's men, so I did my job."

The man just stared at him as though he were from another planet. He turned around the room, surveying the damage in what was almost disbelief. Like Neo, it hadn't escaped his notice that Sasuke had sustained a stab wound on his arm. His accelerated healing (courtesy of the absorbed Snake Sannin) had already closed most of the wound, but could not hide the lines of dried and drying blood on his arm. The idea that Neo of all people had been beaten this soundly by someone with no aura was ludicrous.

"I apologize, Roman. I did call him in for the meeting but I didn't tell him why he was coming or what you or your associate looked like."

It was an attempt to negotiate this faux pas peacefully, but the bearded man was unsure if it would go anywhere. The Uchiha had likely blown whatever chance he had a coming to an agreement, or even the crime boss leaving him alone.

"Kid, do you know who I am?"

The man now identified as Roman ignored Junior completely. The question was asked almost rhetorically asked, and reeked of the tone that said the one asking it would somehow make the person he was asking feel stupid.

"Not a clue," Sasuke could leave his response at that, but it might be better to knock him off balance a bit and do more than just answer what was probably going to be a series of set-up questions. "Are you someone I can defeat as easily as her if you turn into an enemy?"

Junior, Miltia, and Melanie swung their heads in disbelief. Even if Sasuke didn't know who Roman was, there was no way he couldn't tell from Junior's tone that he was a powerful figure.

Roman only slightly tilted his head forward in response, locking eyes and dropping his mouth slightly open in surprise that the kid in front of him would be that audacious.

"My name is Roman Torchwick. I'm the biggest crime boss in Vale, and you just beat up my favorite help."

"Then you can tell her to not pick fights she can't win."

Roman quickly got the message that Sasuke was not going to be offering an apology.

"Are you going to do something about it or not?"

The Uchiha stared straight into Roman's eyes. Daring him to make a move. If the crime lord tried anything, he wouldn't get far. He had beaten his hired muscle and he had no other allies present. If he made any hostile moves things would not end well for him.

"He, he, he," Sasuke raised his brow in confusion as Roman began to lightly chuckle.

"I think I've heard of you. You're the bullet-catcher this big man hired a while back, right?"

Sasuke continued to stare, choosing not to reply.

"I didn't think you would be this young. Talent like that usually comes with age. But then again, I suppose prodigies are everywhere."

He took a drag on his cigar before continuing with a small smile, "You want to come upstairs with us, kid? I think I have a more mutually beneficial idea than shooting you."

"Fine."

It was probably not a good idea to hear out a crime boss he had just angered, but Sasuke decided that it would be better to see if he could smooth this over if he could. He had made it clear he would not quietly accept any hostile moves on Roman's part. But that didn't mean he wanted to be looking over his shoulder every second of every day for an assassination attempt.

He could kill Roman if he had to, but even the murder of a crime boss wouldn't be overlooked by either Junior or law enforcement.

"Sit down, Sasuke. Have a drink."

The Uchiha sat down on an easy chair, taking a small sip of wine from a glass Melanie offered him. The twins stood behind him in a silent show of support while Junior took his seat in another chair to his right after he placed Neo on a sofa to give her some recovery time.

"Don't get me wrong, I am still mad at you" The crime boss stated taking a small drink of his own. "But I can respect talent like yours."

"As fate would have it, I came here to ask your boss about hiring some of his men for a few jobs I have in mind. We were in the middle of negotiating when all of the sudden, you drop in."

"You want to hire me to help you?" That was unexpected, he had thought Roman wouldn't trust him with anything after what happened downstairs. And why did everyone want to hire him?

"You read my mind, kid! I come looking for capable help, and you waltz in and give the best working interview I've ever seen! It just feels like it was meant to be."

"I hope you're not planning to send him on a set-up," Junior interjected to not-so subtly warn Sasuke of the risks of accepting the offer.

"Oh, don't worry big man. I'm a practical guy, I don't throw away people who could be useful on a little grudge. Besides, Neo is already recovering, so no harm done."

That much was true. Neo was now sitting up on the couch, drinking a glass of water around her occasional cough. There was less blood coming up now, but a few drops were still present around her mouth that she hadn't yet reached.

The woman had started boring her eyes into him once she had gotten her bearings. It was more subdued, but she still had an anticipatory grin on her face as she fidgeted with her free hand as she watched the exchange.

As for Sasuke, Roman's offer had been processed by the logical portion of his brain. And once the analysis was complete, he came to a simple conclusion: say no.

There was no logical reason to take the deal. It would put him on the radar of the Police, exactly what he didn't want and had been anxious to avoid during his stay here. Not to mention Junior had a valid point that Roman might be setting him up.

There was no logical reason to accept.

"So what do you say, kid?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

* * *

 **AN: This is going to be a long Author's note. Be warned.**

 **Rant incoming, just a heads-up. I can already hear some of you furiously typing why I have Sasuke so OOC with his sex life. I feel I should explain myself somewhat right here and now and pre-counter some of the more common arguments that Sasuke is an Unsullied in disguise.**

 **Let me guess: 'Sasuke doesn't have a sex life, what the hell are you doing?' Okay, stop for one second. I never said he was sleeping around with everything that moved. He's not fucking Jiraiya for God's sake. Sasuke is also human. And has human urges. Even if we never see him really manifest them in canon, that doesn't mean they aren't there. All of us have been guilty of thinking to ourselves: 'wow, that guy/girl is really hot. I would so bang them', and yet never show those thoughts to the outside world. Just because Sasuke doesn't usually show any emotions doesn't mean he doesn't have them. For Christ sake, his emotional turmoil and pain were the entire reason he defected from Konoha to begin with!**

 **And as for the argument, "We've never seen him attracted to a woman before, so he's not into women", it's bullshit. Even discounting the fact that he marries Sakura at the end of the series, you know who else in Naruto never shows any attraction towards anyone? Iruka. Might Gai. Shino. The Raikage. Gaara. Neji. Shizune. Kankuro. And the list goes on. Are all of these characters celibate too? Or do you think** _ **maybe**_ **their personal lives aren't relevant enough to the plot for Kishimoto to put them in and they happen off-screen?**

 **The typical counter-argument is that Sasuke has turned down women before and so he's not into them. Okay, look at Sakura and Ino in flashbacks or in the original Naruto series. Look closely. Now imagine having double-digit numbers of girls like that approaching you, begging for your time and attention, and having the nerve to say they 'love you' after your older brother who 'loved you' massacred your entire family. Now put up with them for five years. After five years, you begin to see a pattern: girls come up to you with fake notions of love and are all annoying and don't know anything about him. And people wonder why Sasuke's first instinct when women approach him is to tell them to fuck off? No shit, Sherlock!**

 **Next obvious argument: Sasuke is from a traditional family, so he wouldn't have sex until he was married and only with his wife. Right... because every person in history who has ever sworn to do that has managed to keep that promise. Just look at Tiger Woods. And every unmarried college student. In case you couldn't tell, that was sarcasm.**

 **Even in the most conservative societies cheating, pre-marital sex, and break-ups happened. Humans do that. They have done it in every society and culture in history. I don't know what magical characteristic anyone sees in Sasuke that makes them think he would be an exception to this. And for the record, Sasuke has never made a vow of celibacy, nor is there any direct reference that the Uchiha had a culture like that. It is an assumption you made and nothing more. It may be correct, but the fact is no one knows because Kishimoto did not write it anywhere.**

 **And even if the Uchiha were a 'wait until marriage before sex' clan, there is no guarantee Sasuke would know that. He was seven when the massacre happened. I find it hard to believe his parents would have told him about that part of the Clan's law before they were killed. And with his family gone, a lot of the pressure to put off sex would be gone. No punishment, no ashamed parents or cousins, no social pressure at all now.**

 **Final point: considering the general culture of the shinobi world, Sasuke nor most shinobi are going to be too hung up on taking their time to start fucking. Remember, this is a world where shinobi are lucky to get to their thirties even in good times. Considering that these people are going out on missions that could be their last literally as a day job, no one is going to be waiting until their 18** **th** **birthday party to get laid, even the more 'traditional ones'.**

 **Remember the Romeo and Juliet story? The original? I'll remind you that Juliet is thirteen in the play. Thirteen. She's ready to get married and start having kids at thirteen. And that was normal back then when life expectancy was absolute shit. If you're going to die when you're 40, have half of your kids die before they turn four, women have a one-in-ten chance of dying in every childbirth, you don't wait until you are in your twenties to settle down and start making babies. The shinobi culture is going to be similar in that they aren't going to spend years upon years courting. I'm honestly shocked that Hinata and/or Hanabi weren't in any kind of arranged marriage given the circumstances.**

 **And given that Sasuke grew up in such die-young culture, I think it's very likely that he decided to lose his V-card somewhere along the road. It just wasn't shown because it wasn't important. And just because he has standards for women doesn't mean he's wearing a fucking chastity belt.**

 **Rant over.**

 **I included the genetics 101 lesson for the Faunus for several reasons. First, it gives a solid explanation why in canon, no Faunus has more than one animal feature. Second, it explains why Faunus are a minority and can be persecuted as such. One would think that with animal features and good night vision, they would have better odds of surviving the Grimm and eventually be more populous than humans. This is an explanation for why that didn't happen.**

 **If you liked Sasuke's new ability, thank you! I came up with that idea all by my lonesome. I'm actually kind of shocked, I don't know of any other story where someone came up with the idea. In a modern setting like this, it's just begging to be written in!**

 **Also, please tell me about the fight scene. It's my first big one, so I'm open to any constructive criticism.**


	9. Birds of a Feather

**AN: Okay, so this one was almost twice as long as I thought it would be. Sorry for the delay, but I went in thinking this would be roughly 10,000 words or so and it came out at over 16,000. Sue me.**

 **Important note: I have a beta reader now. But instead of getting a copy of the chapter before I post it, they want to read it on the site first and just sit back and enjoy it before combing through it with a magnifying glass looking for my mistakes. So, I'm going to be updating the story sometime after I post every chapter with the corrected version. If you see this 'updated' three days later and it looks like nothing was added, it's probably just a few bits of grammar or spelling mistakes that were corrected.**

 **Also, Sasuke's fuck-up-electronics ability has been named Mizuchi, after a Japanese water-god serpent. The decision has been made.**

 **diabloseriosa- Yeah, that's definitely something to consider. The Uchiha don't have a Caged Bird seal or anything like the Hyuuga if they get captured, so they probably did have some kind of family protocol for preventing Sharingan theft or unwanted pregnancies that would spread their blood to hostile villages.**

 **LucianeGrimoire- Again, thanks for the vote of support! The club scene was one of your favorite scenes ever!? Jesus, thanks for the praise but I don't think I'm** **that** **good!**

 **gotSaws- I have wanted to write that scene for a while, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I did enjoy a thought experiment where I had Sasuke accept the porn job, but didn't know what it was, and struggled to not commit mass murder when they asked him to take his clothes off in front of a camera. A hilarious scenario, but impractical. No way Sasuke would accept a job without knowing what he was even going to be doing. If you're looking for a funny story, then I recommend the Bleach fic, 'Uninvited Guests'. It's listed under my favorites, and I actually had to pause reading it in several places for a few minutes because I was laughing too hard to focus.**

 **Fortitude 501- Yes. Yes I did have to mention that. I was tricked into seeing it, and the best way to deal with the trauma is to share the pain with others.**

 **KnightofZaku- Aaand it's here! Did I say it would be less than a week or did I say it would be less than a week? Always good to hear from you!**

 **Machcia- Yeah, Kishimoto could have handled that better. I don't have a problem with the final pairing per se, I do have a problem with Sakura reverting back to her pre-time skip self and being unable to make her own decisions or really help at all whenever Sasuke is involved. Don't blame her for it- blame the writer that screwed her character over.**

 **NightmareKnight1- Finally, someone who points out that he could meet up with Ruby if he helps Roman! I'm not going to confirm or deny any speculation, but it's nice someone is thinking outside the box.**

 **RunDownLord- Thanks for the praise! I should warn you though, the long explanations, even the boring ones, are there for a reason. Seeds don't look impressive when you first plant them, but give them some time and they turn into something bigger.**

 **Reasonable man- Okay, I feel I should give you a fair warning that a lot of the redundant stuff you're referring to isn't there just to take up space. It isn't necessary now, but take my word for it that a lot of the boring stuff here is more important than it looks. I'll be the first to admit I'm not very skilled at putting a bunch of material in a small number of words, but I'd still rather put too much exposition in my story than too little. I apologize if I'm going too deep into detail for you, but I hope you enjoy my work regardless.**

 **ubivashka-kun** **\- You'll have to wait and see! I suppose there could be sushi, but it's my story and I decided to make the change.**

 **Atttth- Yeah, I did put a lot of explanations in there. Arguably too much, but like I mentioned above a lot of the information is not useless. Take my word for it, everything is in there for a reason. As for the fight scene; you'll be happy to know that since Sasuke has now seen aura in action, I won't need to re-do that particular mental monologue nor re-introduce chakra adhesion.**

 **alaude hibari- You're welcome.**

 **The4SsAsSiN- Appreciate the positive reinforcement. Don't want to spoil anything but you would do well to remember Sasuke's first.**

 **redstonepowder- Aura's ability to tank hits against the more varied but more fragile shinobi was something I was certainly looking forward to writing here. If you liked the contrast, you should enjoy the idea I have for accounting for the respective inconsistencies regarding durability with RWBY's aura users and chakra wielders from Naruto. Not gonna say when, but it's in the works.**

 **crimson11116- Basically Roman is wanting to hire him for the same reason Junior did. He doesn't answer doors or do grunt work- he's the guy who gets called in to take care of the cops or other big threats if they show up. I'm afraid I can't answer any of your other questions without giving spoilers, so you'll have to just wait it out and see.**

 **The Baz- It's my story, and I say it can! Did you at least enjoy it? I hope so, you're part of the reason that scene was in there.**

 **Yexius- A terrifying thought, sure, but Sasuke has also been stalked by Orochimaru. Neo's not quite on the same level.**

 **Gruntled Baki- Appreciate the honesty. Like I mentioned above, I've got a problem with over-doing the word count sometimes. I can't be perfect, what can I say? I do need to make the same point to you as Reasonable Man and Atttth- even the boring stuff is there for a purpose, even if it isn't obvious in this chapter.**

 **Fanfictions4ever- You'll have to wait for the pairings, but I think you'll appreciate one of the scenes in this chapter.**

 **shadowphoenix- I like your support and I want your pointers- it helps keep me on my toes. First of all, like I said above, things are as they are in this story for a purpose. I can only ask you to be a little patient, that losing-his-V-card part is going to matter later on. I'm glad you warmed up to Shyla a bit. I know it's kind of weird that he would tolerate her, but I think it would be even stranger if I made an OC that magically just 'got along' with Sasuke as he is now with no difficulty at all. THAT, I would argue, is even more unlikely. And you're gonna be seeing more electromagnetism stuff too. If you've seen the cartoon series Static Shock, you'll know there's a lot to work with. I miss that show…**

 **NotXeno- Yeah, he isn't updating as often as he used to. A real shame, he's written some good stuff. Happy you like mine too!**

 **Nox Ambulare- I know I already sent you that PM, but I'll say again that I'm flattered you thought my story was good enough to review. Hope you enjoy this chapter**

 **Tobi14- Thanks for the support! Sasuke's psychology is certainly a Gordian knot, it's definitely going to take up a lot of scenes later on. That contrast between his rogue actions and growing up wanting to be a police officer is one that isn't usually fully explored. Kind of sad it wasn't even touched on in canon.**

' _thoughts'_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **Uchiha of Remnant**

Chapter 9: Birds of a Feather

The ringing of the bell by the door alerted Martin that he had one more customer to serve before he packed up for the night. Hopefully it would be quick and he would get a good night's rest.

"Welcome to Sixth Street Dust, how ca-"

The sentence died before he could utter another word as the one and only Roman Torchwick walked in. He was flanked by three men in suits with red ties, and the store owner instantly knew he was in big trouble.

"You actually can help me, my good fellow. I find myself in need of large quantities of Dust, and it seems that you have plenty to spare!"

Martin rested his hand on the counter, very slowly inching his finger toward the alarm underneath the counter to alert the Police.

"Unfortunately I forgot to bring my wallet with me. I don't suppose you have a discount of some kind?"

His fingers were mere millimeters from the button when a black blur suddenly came in to his vision. Martin did not feel anything nor did he see anything else as he slumped to the floor from a punch to his head far too fast for his eyes to follow.

"Well that was anti-climactic. Would it have killed you to at least give him a sporting chance?"

"He was reaching for the silent alarm with his hand. Your taste for theatrics is going to get us in trouble."

"Sasuke, has anyone ever told you you're too efficient for your own good? You need to learn to relax a bit and enjoy your work."

"And you need to remember I told you not to say my name when I'm working."

Most Dust stores had security cameras, which was the reason why Sasuke was donning a rather stereotypical black ski mask. He had gone out of his way to let Roman know that he needed to stay as inconspicuous as possible. And that meant not being an idiot and saying his name out loud.

"Chill out 'Hebi'. This shop doesn't quite make the revenue to afford the security cameras with audio anyway. But if it will make you feel better…"

"Hn."

With that out of the way the men behind Roman stepped out and began working on taking all the Dust in the shop they could find.

For his part, Sasuke took a position by the window to look out for cops and began thinking back to how he got into this mess.

This was exactly the sort of thing he had been trying to avoid. Putting himself in the crosshairs of local authorities was the last thing he wanted during his stay here. Unfortunately Roman's offer left him with two choices, both of them significant gambles.

The first option was to say no. It would keep him under the radar as he had intended from the start, but Sasuke was far from naïve enough to believe that if he beat up a crime lord's help and then rejected an offer from them not five minutes afterward that he would be let off scot-free. Roman carried himself in an upbeat, almost jovial manner that did a poor job of hiding what he really was- ruthless. If he had rejected the deal there was no doubt in the Uchiha's mind that Roman would either order an assassination attempt or find what records he could to get some kind of leverage on him. And with his body's ability to handle gunfire still unknown, he was in no hurry to encourage that possibility.

It also went without saying that Roman would have some significant ammunition if he started looking into his personal history for anything that could be used against him. There was too much at stake to simply keep his fingers crossed that the thief wouldn't be able to find what he needed.

And Sasuke couldn't risk killing him yet either. There was no doubt he could if it came down to it, but that came with its own set of risks. Even ignoring a Police investigation someone like Roman would have plenty of friends or business partners that would have something to lose if he was gone. There was a possibility they wouldn't care or wouldn't be able to track it down to him, but there were too many unknowns to chance it right now.

And so he was left with option two: agree to the deal. His situation would be far from ideal, but he would have a bit more control than if he had turned Roman down. As long as he was useful to Roman and didn't pose an obvious threat to him, he would in theory be safe from the gangster's bad side.

All he had to do now was to avoid getting caught. His new ability to disable electronics, which he had decided to name 'Mizuchi', would certainly help if he was somehow captured, but he would prefer to not have to use it.

And it wasn't like the Uchiha had accepted the deal without making his own demands.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **FLASHBACK**

"Lightning Dust? What the hell do you need that for, kid?" asked the thief, confused at the unusual method of payment just proposed.

"What I do with it is none of your concern. I have use for it, and I don't need money. If we're going to be stealing Dust in bulk as you suggest, half of the gross quantity of Lightning Dust gathered will be my payment. Understood?"

"Pff, sure kid. Why not? Anything else?"

"Just one condition. And before you think otherwise, it's not negotiable."

The crime lord toned down his usual nonchalant appearance to a more serious one as the Uchiha locked his unapologetic gaze on him.

"No killing."

"Are you fucking serious kid?" Roman retorted, recoiling his entire head in surprise at the demand. "You almost choked Neo to death, why are you getting cold feet now?"

The remaining occupants of the room were clearly thinking the same thing. Junior and the twins were looking at him in confusion and disbelief, and Neo was nothing short of flabbergasted.

"I have my reasons. If you want my help stealing Dust, that's fine. But no murder, no human trafficking. I am **not** crossing that line."

The Uchiha's tone brokered no room for argument.

"Tch, fine then kid. I can't force you to get your feet wet if you don't want to. But I do expect you to use a proper… measure of force if needed. I assume you won't mind repeating your performance with Neo if the situation calls for it?"

"That much is fine."

"Wonderful!" the thief exclaimed, waving his cane in excitement. "Although I don't think Neo agrees with your decision."

Sasuke turned his head toward the short woman to lay his eyes on the rather amusing sight of her _pouting_ , of all things. She clearly did not share the Uchiha's desire to limit bloodshed.

"It doesn't matter if you like it or not," the Uchiha declared to the disenchanted woman. "it is my decision to make. If you want to see me fight again that badly, I'll be happy to accept a rematch."

Neo's face instantly lit up like a five-year-old being told they had a lifetime supply of candy. An eager grin made its way to her face as she tightened her grip on her umbrella in excitement.

' _Perhaps that was a poor choice of words'_

Oh, well. At least she would be a decent sparring partner.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **PRESENT**

So far his association with Roman was going rather well. It was his tenth job with the thief, and all of the robberies had been pulled off flawlessly with no fatalities or interference from the police. The Uchiha was unsure why the thief was only targeting Dust shops when there were plenty of jewelry stores and banks around, and had entertained the possibility that he was either working for someone else or being strong-armed by another party.

If that was the case he needed to get out of his relationship with Roman as soon as he could before he was dragged in too deep.

"Alrighty, that should about do it. Hebi, let's go."

Slightly annoyed he was stuck following Roman's orders for now, the Uchiha filed out the door to the truck waiting for them. It had been a more productive haul than the shop's modest appearance would have suggested, and the back of the vehicle was slightly tilted from the excess weight.

The Uchiha was about to step into the truck and escort the cargo to one of Roman's safehouses when the thief's hand grabbed his shoulder. He spun around slightly confused, he had stayed with the cargo in every job and was unsure why the crime lord had changed his mind with this one.

"Not so fast, kid. I have another ride for us coming. The boys here will do the heavy lifting."

Almost right on cue, a jet-black car came into view around the street corner behind them. Sasuke could tell just from looking at it that it was an expensive model. Not quite a limo, which would have been too conspicuous to be practical, but a ride meant for luxury nonetheless.

"And what exactly do you have in mind?" the Uchiha inquired, not trusting the fact that Roman had for some reason not told him about this obvious change in plans.

"Oh, just taking you to a little surprise. This is the fourth time you've pulled that little stunt with knocking out the cashier before they can call for the boys in blue, and it's made our little project go a lot faster."

Sasuke's guard was immediately raised as Roman threw his arm over his shoulder in a fake show of affection.

"So I thought I'd take you out on a night on the town to show my appreciation!"

The Uchiha's first thought was that if Roman had gotten what he wanted out of him and was going to kill him to tie up loose ends, this was probably how he would do it. The second thought was that he didn't want to go even if Roman was being genuine. The third thought was that he still needed to stay on Roman's good side until he figured out a way to get rid of the thief and stay clean from any fallout.

Sasuke had to repress a sigh when he realized he would once again have to play Roman's game.

"Fine."

"Jeez, kid, have you ever been happy or excited in your life?" the thief inquired as the driver of the car opened the door for his two passengers. "You could at least pretend to be looking forward to some R&R, I don't do this for just anyone you know!"

Roman did not get a reply as they got into the car, with Sasuke choosing to sit close to the window in case he needed a way out.

"Seriously, kids these days. No appreciation at all, am I right?" he inquired to the driver, who merely grunted what may have been an affirmative answer.

The Uchiha merely tuned him out and focused on trying to find the patch of air closest to his mouth that had the thinnest wisps of smoke from Roman's cigar to breathe. Just because he was immune to toxins didn't mean the smell was any more bearable.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm glad you asked, kid. Just a particularly favorite place of mine when I want to unwind. I won't spoil you with any details, but I think you'll learn to enjoy it. If we're lucky you'll start to actually get that telephone pole out of your anti-social ass."

The Uchiha used his years of experience sitting through Naruto's taunts to effortlessly ignore Roman's obvious provocation. He had no interest in taking Roman's bait into whatever ridiculous conversation the thief had in mind. He instead mulled over the several possibilities about the nature of the place he was supposedly being led to based on the description, and none of them were things he would like.

Their ride came to an end in only a few minutes in what appeared to be a rather run-down alley that was completely deserted except for a certain pink-and-brown haired woman. Judging from her crossed arms and what he had learned was her trademark pout, she had been kept waiting for too long.

"Don't look at me like that, Neo" Roman placated. "We're on time. It's not my fault you got here early."

Neo simply rolled her eyes before diverting her gaze to Sasuke and giving an enthusiastic grin.

"Oh, and Neo, you missed some rubble. Just right… there."

The woman quickly lifted a hand to her shoulder where Roman had pointed before brushing the broken bits of concrete off. She never averted her gaze at the Uchiha, giving him a pointed look as she tidied her appearance.

If she wanted the Uchiha to feel sorry for her she had another thing coming. Neo had taken it upon herself to indulge him on his word and spar with him almost every chance they met. Their last bout had ended only a couple hours ago before the Uchiha had to cut it short to leave for the scheduled robbery, and she had made it clear that they would be picking up where they left off the first chance they had.

"If the two of you are presentable, let's get a move on."

Roman then walked up to a rather shabby door before knocking four times in quickening succession. A few seconds later a small viewing port opened as the doorman assessed who was trying to gain entry before hastily opening the door for the crime lord.

"Thank you, good sir. Okay, just follow me kid. It can be kind of a maze in here."

Sasuke was instantly reminded of his first visit to Junior's club when the well-maintained and expensive decorations starkly contrasted with the near-slums outside. There was a pulsing music in the background, though it was a far slower beat than what the club usually played.

Dim pink and red lights lit the hallways, and when the Uchiha picked up almost nauseatingly strong scents of what could only be perfume or incense there was little doubt as to where Roman had decided to take him for some 'unwinding'.

They walked through a set of what had to be extremely expensive double-doors to what was clearly a VIP lounge. Red and pink lights were clearly all the place had, and there was a rather impressively stocked private bar at one end of the room. And at the center was a three-sided leather couch with several sets of drink holders and collapsible trays spaced between the seats. All centered around a stripper pole.

He had been brought into the lion's den.

Before the Uchiha could contemplate if perhaps it would have been better if Roman had tried to assassinate him instead, a middle-aged woman with bright pink-purple hair entered the room.

"Ah, Miss Magenta! A pleasure to see you again! Your establishment is looking as lovely as always."

"Always the flatterer, Mr. Torchwick. Welcome back! I assume you and Neo will prefer the usual?"

"You know me so well, madame. But I do need to add on a few services for my new help here." the thief proclaimed, jerking his thumb towards the Uchiha. "This is Sasuke Uchiha. It's his first time here, and take my word for it when I say he is in desperate need of a good time. You will do what you can for him, won't you?"

"Oh, Mr. Torchwick," Sasuke had to suppress a cringe when the woman began to undress him with her eyes. "you know how well I treat your guests. And for him, I daresay the girls might be willing to give a discount for their services."

"And here I was thinking the evening couldn't get any better! Man, I should have brought you here sooner, kid."

"Now then Mr. Uchiha," he had to suppress a shudder at the sultry look she was attempting to entice him with. She was far too old to be coming onto him, her profession be damned. "welcome to the Red Mare. I'm the owner, Miss Magenta. I'm sure you've already guessed the nature of my establishment, and rest assured I will personally ensure that your evening with us is as relaxing and **enjoyable** as possible."

' _She is far too old to be batting her eyelashes'_

"Your new colleagues are both regulars, so they have their favorite attendants reserved already. But seeing as you're new, if you'll just tell me the type of girl, or girls, you would be interested in, I'll be happy to find a match for you."

Sasuke's gut instinct was to tell her to get lost and leave him alone, and that's exactly what he would have done two or three years ago. But he was different now. More patient and a bit less impulsive. He wouldn't be the first shinobi put in a distasteful situation by a long shot, but like any shinobi Sasuke had learned to exploit even the worst circumstances for all they were worth.

And as fate would have it he did have something valuable to potentially gain while he was here. Magenta had said that both Roman and Neo were regular clients here, which meant that many of the employees here could have potentially useful information on them. Information that could be invaluable to him if he wanted a leg up on Roman in case the thief tried to turn him into a dead man who would tell no tales. He couldn't ask such questions himself for fear of arousing suspicion, but if one of the employees here just 'happened' to have loose lips? It was an opportunity he would be a fool to waste. Even if it did come at a price.

With his goal in mind, the Uchiha took all of two seconds to give the woman his answer.

"Two girls will do. I don't care too much on appearance, just make sure they can drink and have a conversation."

"Absolutely, sir. If you'll wait here a moment, I'll bring them right in."

His plan to get useful material on Roman wasn't particularly clever or original. In fact it was the oldest trick in the book- get them drunk, and get them talking. It was a bit risky with Roman and Neo in the same room, but with luck the background music combined with whatever 'activities' they partook in would eliminate the risk of being overheard.

He would have to wait for his attendants, but Roman and Neo did not. The Uchiha watched as two scantily-clad women came through the door, carrying a covered tray and a basket respectively, before making a beeline for their separate clients. Roman was courteous enough to briefly introduce him before his own girl took out a bottle of what looked like expensive wine from her basket and began pouring for the two of them.

Good. If Roman started getting drunk it would make his pseudo-interrogation less likely to be discovered.

A small part of him was curious as to what service was provided to Neo that was making her bounce up and down on her seat in excitement. He wasn't sure if she played for the other team or not, but even if she did she seemed a bit more like a kid at a candy store than someone about to get a lap dance.

He realized his comparison wasn't too far off when Neo's stripper took the cover off the tray to reveal what he could only describe as a flight of ice cream and toppings instead of alcohol.

Sasuke could have sworn in that moment the heterochromatic woman's eyes actually sparkled with joy.

"Please tell me that isn't your dinner." It wasn't in the Uchiha's nature to stick his nose in someone else's business, but there was a limit.

He had been raised in a household where his mother would refuse to make him meals if he hadn't finished his vegetables from the previous one. If he had tried what Neo was doing then his mother would have spanked him without hesitation, and his father would have helped her.

Neo clearly had not been raised in a similar manner because she vigorously nodded affirmatively at his question.

' _Has it ever occurred to her that her lack of proper nutrition may be the reason she almost qualifies as a midget?'_

She enjoyed both her meal and her attention, if the satisfied look on her face as she actually reclined on the couch and had her stripper drop small bits of the dessert in her mouth as if she were an empress eating grapes was anything to go on. The only thing she was missing was a servant fanning her with a giant palm leaf.

It was extravagant, but Roman's stripper had begun to give him a lap dance and he was looking for any excuse to not see it.

"Good evening sir."

He turned his head toward the pair of voices that had synchronized their greeting to see two more strippers, both carrying trays with a rather impressive assortment of high-end alcohol and glasses. He had mentioned to Magenta that he didn't care about appearance, and so she had decided to send him a pair of girls that had almost nothing in common in regards to their looks to make sure he enjoyed the company of at least one of them. One was almost as short as Neo and rather slender with hair that could have been mistaken for an apricot while the other was a tall and voluptuous brunette that would not have been out of place as a supermodel.

"My name is Fantasia," stated the taller one, "and this is Candi."

"We hope you enjoy your evening with us," the now-named Candi continued with a warm smile that would have melted the hearts of men with less resolve. "and I hope you enjoy cocktails?"

His eyes darted down toward the sizeable tray they brought as he took in the artfully arranged drinks. He was admittedly impressed at the variety they brought- several varieties of vodka, rum, bourbon, and white and red wine. Not to mention the no less impressive diversity of mixers.

He returned his thus-far wordless gaze toward his two attendants, both of whom had already slightly widened their eyes at his looks.

Perfect.

The Uchiha kept his emotionless frown, but gracefully draped a single arm over the back of the couch in a relaxed, inviting manner. Despite his distaste for it, he wasn't above using his looks to get what he wanted from women. It had worked well enough with Karin.

"I enjoy lovely company even more." he replied, lying through his teeth while gesturing to the open seats to either side of him.

Fantasia eagerly slipped next to him, though he could tell she had wanted to go straight for his lap. It unfortunately had not stopped her from placing her hand on his thigh in a doomed attempt to please him.

Not for the first time Sasuke had to remind himself he was dealing with civilians and not shinobi. He had to ignore his instinct to shove a kunai into her throat despite how much he wanted her to be unable to touch him with anything less than a forty-foot pole.

"What drink would you prefer, sir?" Candi abruptly interjected a bit louder than necessary to redirect his attention toward her. She was still smiling, but it was clear that she did not like her counterpart's bold intrusion in his personal space.

"Bourbon with Ginger Ale." he replied. Just because he couldn't get drunk didn't mean he couldn't find a drink that appealed to his taste. And he had found that bourbon had a bit of a burn when he swallowed it that he liked.

"Right away, sir."

"So Sasuke," Fantasia purred, pouring herself a glass of wine after the Uchiha received his own drink, "I understand from Miss Magenta that you want good conversation with your drink."

' _She obviously wants to do more than talk'_

It had not escaped his notice that her hand was starting to gently rub his thigh in far too intimate a manner for his taste. The hairs on his neck snapped up in silent alarm as Candi took her seat on his other side, once again far too close for his liking. Sasuke had to once again remind himself that he was here for a purpose, and snapping the neck of the hostesses would not get him what he wanted.

Still, he couldn't start asking them serious questions just yet. Roman was distracted by his lap dance, but Sasuke could tell he was still directing at least some of his attention on the Uchiha. Whether Roman suspected he would start asking questions or if he was genuinely interested if Sasuke was enjoying himself the Uchiha had no idea. Neo was still sober and was also choosing to lend her ear to his activities for some reason. She was lending her eyes too, giving him an intense but curious look as she slowly savored and consumed her 'dinner'.

Roman and Neo would no doubt be getting more alcohol of their own in due time, at which point he would start digging. Until then he would just have to bullshit.

Unfortunately for the Uchiha, 'until then' turned out to be more than an hour. And as expected, it was hell on earth. Pointless small talk, endless questions about the most useless topics, and mindless banter regarding subjects he could not have cared less for if he tried.

"So Sasuke, couldn't hep but notish the drinks aren' hitting you much…" the drinks were hitting her plenty, though. Even without Fantasia's slurred words the smell of wine and vodka on her and Candi's breath permeated the air like a miasma. "There a reassen fur zhat?"

"There is. But you're not going to remember anything I tell you at this point anyway."

"But you can tell meee," the voice from his other 'companion' slurred as Candi grasped his arm clumsily and rubbed her fingers into the muscle beneath in a decidedly uncoordinated manner. "Cmon sir, can't you let a grl in on a little shecret?"

"No." the Uchiha bluntly replied. "And it's time the two of you left, you've had more than enough of both drinks and my time."

He was near the end of his tether with these two. It had been a pain to listen to two mouths blabber instead of one, but Sasuke had made the decision for two girls for a reason.

The mundane talk he knew he would be participating in was likely going to drive him to consider suicide before long, at least if it was just him and one other person talking one-on-one. But with two girls who were acquaintances instead it was easy for him to simply direct the conversation the way he wanted with his preferred three-words-or-less phrases without being forced to articulate superfluous small talk, the latter of which he would simply sit back and let the girls talk amongst themselves a bit before re-entering as the less-chatty third wheel.

Having two girls who were both trying to get in his good graces also meant that they would consistently try to one-up each other much as the waitresses in the restaurant he and Suigetsu had stopped at in the Land of Waves had done. Once he brought up the subject of Roman and hinted at his interest, both of them were more than eager to share what they knew.

Despite the psychological torture he was subjected to the Uchiha had to admit he did have _something_ to show for his troubles. Most of the words that came out of Fantasia and Candi's mouths were utterly worthless to him, but a handful of gems were embedded in-between the mass of useless information presented.

Roman had been coming here for some time, but Neo had only been accompanying him on and off for a little over a year. A few minutes later Candi revealed that Neo was actually an assassin for hire. And though she was one of Roman's favorite and more consistent helpers she did not work for him full-time.

And that meant that there was a good chance she was not completely loyal to the crime lord. Mercenaries, after all, did not fight to the death if they could help it. If they had a choice in the matter, they sold their services to the party that would pay them the most and worked jobs they thought they could survive. Reward money was worthless if the recipient was dead, after all.

And the two whores on either side of him were just as worthless now that they were incapable of speaking a coherent sentence. Something they didn't seem to understand seeing as how they were still trying to worm their hands through his clothing to the skin beneath.

"I won't repeat myself. **Leave**."

Thankfully the two girls still had enough lights on upstairs to understand he was serious, and slowly staggered to their feet with pouts on their faces. It looked like they wanted to say some kind of snappy retort as well, but standing and walking on two legs took all of the concentration they currently had.

Roman had left the room in an intoxicated state ten minutes prior with his escort after going through a bottle of wine and snorting what had to be cocaine, probably for some 'fun' in a more private area if he were to guess.

And that left Neo, her stripper, and the stripper currently dancing on the pole as the only ones left for company. Not that Sasuke wanted it, he had socialized more than enough for the evening.

Neo on the other hand was having the time of her life. Her attendant had been massaging her hands and feet for almost half an hour now, all while the heterochrome woman devoted her attention to the stripper dancing on the pole. It was almost like watching an excited child see the circus for the first time, her eyes following the movements of the performance with similar attention and wonder. Except she was drinking Moscato instead of fruit punch.

The pulsing beat in the background took on a sudden change of tune as a new stripper walked in to replace the one that had been entertaining them on the pole for the past twenty minutes. Unlike the previous ones however, she managed to catch Sasuke's attention. It wasn't the woman's skimpy outfit, her bright blue hair, nor her curvy figure that caught his eye. It was the seven-foot snake that was draped over her shoulders. As a student of Orochimaru and a summoner of snakes, he immediately identified it as a Boa Constrictor.

He was lucky that much of the wildlife of his home world and this one were by some ridiculous coincidence almost exactly the same with the exception of summons.

Neo had her eyes wide open and her hands clasped together in excitement at the sight. Not too unusual for her from what he had seen, but Sasuke had to admit a part of him wanted to see the woman's performance. It couldn't be easy to perform a pole dancing routine with an animal weighing over forty pounds along for the ride. Dealing with the massive shift in her center of gravity alone would be a challenge in and of itself.

Or maybe she wouldn't have any trouble at all. A quick glance at the woman revealed that she did not have legs- she had a ten-foot, bright red serpent tail from the waist down.

' _A snake Faunus? Wait, does that mean she has a rudimentary form of communication or control with her constrictor because of their shared traits, or is her snake just for show?'_

It was easy for Sasuke to find things he did not care about, but his curiosity was starting to get the better of him on this one. He was dividing his thought and attention between pondering if Faunus could bond or communicate with their respective animals in a similar manner to Jugo and being somewhat impressed at the stripper's dance as she did her routine. Low red light shimmered off her meticulously well-groomed scales as the smooth and almost sensual movements flowed together in the exotic locomotion of the serpentine. She flowed back and forth, sidewinding her way up and around the pole, doubling back on her own body with practiced ease. Her entire lower body rippled, shifted, contracted, and twisted around the pole in a display that he had to admit was both incredible and graceful.

Right when she was pulling off a rather original maneuver of turning her human half upside-down and slowly lowering it through a loose coil of her snake half a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"A bottle and a half of vodka, four bottles of wine, and a bottle of rum." the Uchiha swept his gaze to the speaker, another stripper with a brunette pixie cut who had walked up to his seat. No doubt to replace the two who were far too drunk to continue their shift. "I'm assuming the contents were divided evenly?"

"They were."

"Well then that explains why Fantasia and Candi were barely capable of walking out the door. But I can't hear any slurred words from you. Your tolerance must make you popular at parties."

"Why are you here? I don't think you came here to confirm how well my liver functions."

"I'm an escort and a dancer at a strip club" she replied in a tone that was a hairs-breadth away from sarcasm as she took a seat next to him. "I wouldn't be doing my job very well if I wasn't friendly and gave clients compliments when they were due."

Sasuke was uninterested in her company, and opened his mouth to say as much.

He would have told her to get lost, if it weren't for the sudden weight he felt on his neck and opposite shoulder. His first thought was that it was another stripper, but halfway through pivoting his head toward the offender he realized it was something else. The flesh was too hard, not quite the right shape, and too cool to be a human limb.

When he finished turning, he was face-to-face with the snake Faunus' Boa Constrictor, the animal's head so close that its forked tongue brushed his nose. The creature had apparently found him to be more appealing company and decided to abandon the woman in the middle of her dance.

Everyone in the room watched spellbound as the snake, for lack of a better phrase, began to make itself comfortable. It coiled its main body on the Uchiha's lap while draping the upper portion around his shoulders before gently nestling its head right in the crook of the neck of its host.

Reactions around the room were varied. The stripper talking to Sasuke shot up and took several hasty steps back, not wanting to be any closer to the serpent than necessary. The lamia-esque stripper was gawking at him, pausing her routine in shock. She was obviously unused to having her assistant jump ship on her. Neo had a look that was equal parts surprised and amused, and he noticed she actually began leaning forward in her seat as though she were watching a particularly intense drama or play.

She locked eyes with him as an amused grin made its way to her face, hungrily anticipating whatever would happen next.

"How the hell did you do that?" exclaimed the Faunus stripper in shock.

"…I have a thing for snakes" the Uchiha hinted, not willing to elaborate further.

In truth he had no idea why the damn thing was attracted to him. It was common with snake summons and even wild snakes to a lesser degree to be attracted to and be somewhat friendly with any shinobi contracted with their kind in his home world, but he hadn't expected similar behavior from their counterparts here.

Whatever the reason, it went without saying he couldn't tell anyone here his history with the animals. Even the most bastardized version of it was less believable than pigs flying.

"Really? That's… umm…"

"You don't have to stay Devon," the snake woman interrupted, cutting off the stuttering of her colleague who was caught between wanting to stay next to Sasuke and putting several rooms between herself and the constrictor draped over him. "I can keep him company."

"Thank you," Devon replied in relief, "I'll have someone bring in more drinks for you."

As she scampered away, the Faunus did not slither so much as flow down the step separating the stripper platform from the floor. She had the sultry and flirty look that her job no doubt demanded she wear, but mixed in was annoyance that he had stolen her associate and a puzzlement as to how he had done so.

"Hello, sir. You can call me Boa, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Sasuke, right?" She clasped her hands flat and gave a small bow as she introduced herself. "I must confess I'm a bit jealous my partner seems to like you more."

"What is his name?"

She was used to people thinking her snake was male before she told them his name; her snake was so muscular that most everyone just stuck that label on him without a second thought. But not this one. The tone of his voice indicated a man stating a fact, not one making an assumption. Still...

"His name is Reggie. How did you know he was a male?"

"The pelvic spurs." he answered. "Both sexes have them, but the males usually have slightly longer and more pointed ones than the females. I saw them during your performance."

She couldn't help herself from raising a brow at that revelation. The odds he knew that fact were slim enough, but she had no idea how he had been able to see such a small anatomical detail from the distance he was at in such poor lighting. She doubted she could match the feat even with her enhanced Faunus vision.

"I'm impressed," she praised, giving him a small golf clap as she took a seat by his side while coiling the rest of her body on the floor below her. "what other small little facts do you know?"

She began leaning forward almost teasingly slow, making sure to give him a mouthwatering view of her cleavage that had gotten her more tips than she could count with other men.

Her bait was ignored. His onyx pupils did not falter for a second and continued to gaze directly into her own eyes.

It was a first for her; humans and even most Faunus would have at least been gawking at her snake half whether they knew she saw them looking or not by now. It had been a curse that had plagued her for all of her living memory, and just because it had gotten her a well-paying job here as a more 'exotic' item didn't mean she didn't loathe the fact she was essentially treated as a sexual object and a circus attraction rolled into one.

As he paid no attention to the display of the deliciously-curved valley between her breasts she came to a simple conclusion: he didn't care about what she looked like.

He didn't care about her Faunus traits, and he didn't care about her sexual appeal.

He was looking into her eyes. The windows to the soul...

It was enough to make her pause. No one had ever met her without being distracted by one part of her body or another. Ever.

She barely noticed her muscles beginning to relax.

"I know they're poikilothermic." he replied, jerking her out of her thoughts. "But I don't think you share that trait."

"Two for two." Entranced as she was, Boa didn't notice her tail begin to inch its way toward the Uchiha's feet without her permission. "And how did you figure that one out? I don't think your 'thing for snakes' helped you there."

He looked at her- with his gorgeous eyes- as though she were the stupidest sentient being on the face of the earth.

"You are not a snake."

His words were nothing short of an emotional slap to her face. This encounter was proving to be full of firsts for her; 'not a snake' was the last choice of words anyone else would have used to describe her.

Confused, curious, flustered, and slightly anxious were all words that accurately summarized Boa's state of mind when Sasuke gave his unconventional response. She began trying to re-focus her stuttering mind to think up some kind of coherent sentence to reply with when from out of nowhere, her emotional state _shifted_.

From the tip of her tail, a rapid but gentle wave of what she could only identify as warmth pulsed up through her entire body. Her muscles, tense from anxiety and her now muddled mind, let go of their tension and relaxed of their own accord as the pleasant sensation swept through every fiber of her being like a wave of warm honey.

As the relaxing tide reached her head, a different set of emotions instantly replaced what had been there only moments before. Stability, trust, intimacy, _connection_.

It was almost… familiar, somehow.

For several seconds she simply stared into his beautiful obsidian orbs, too stupefied to say a word. Her mind was racing; divided between simply enjoying her newfound state of content, trying to understand why she was in such a state to begin with, and attempting to remember where she had felt this before.

She slowly turned her eyes away from her mysterious client to the epicenter of the earthquake that had just rolled through her- a fraction of a square inch of her tail that was brushing the bare skin of his ankle.

For another moment she gave a mesmerizing gaze to the trigger of the sensations she was still savoring. How could a single touch trigger what she had just gone through? Who the hell was this guy?

"Boa."

Her head shot up as Sasuke's voice abruptly broke her out of her trance. A quick glance at him showed that whatever had just affected her had not touched him at all.

"I- I'm sorry, sir." she hastily apologized, cheeks flushing pink with embarrassment. "I just… I don't know what came over me."

Her client chose to reply non-verbally this time, somehow pulling off a 'you're not making any sense so get your shit together' look on top of his blank poker face.

That look at least, was familiar to her. Her brother had always loved to show it to her whenever she started rambli-

With a start, Boa realized where she had felt this way before. It had been years ago, back when she had been a small child. It had been a normal occurrence for her to come home either in tears or close to it from the open staring, merciless harassment, and behind-her-back teasing of her classmates. She had been an outcast no one had been willing to befriend or even speak to.

Some of the boys of course started to change their opinions of her when puberty hit, but before that her older brother was the only real friend she could claim she had. She would come home in shambles, and he would sit with her. Patiently listening to her either spill out her agony or just embrace her without uttering a word as she clung to the only rock of compassion amongst the sea of scorn and ridicule.

It was impossible to forget the sense of relief and sanctuary whenever he had been there to pick her up when she was falling.

It was that exact sensation she was experiencing now from Sasuke. All from nothing more than a token piece of her skin contacting his.

He was family. There was no logical explanation for why that should be, but there was no denying that's what every instinct she had was telling her.

Boa now understood exactly why Reggie had decided to curl up in his lap.

"Umm, sir, you told Miss Magenta you wanted company that just wanted to talk, right?" she asked shyly, raising herself straight in her seat more casually than the seductive body language she had shown earlier.

Despite the change to a more professional mannerism, no one in the room missed the fact that Boa did not pull her tail away from the Uchiha's foot. Rather, she carefully moved the tip of her tail up to gently hook around his ankle.

It was almost like watching a child grasp their parents' hand when they wanted to take comfort from the connection.

"I did." the Uchiha replied brusquely.

"I… I think I would like that too." she confessed, a small but genuine smile appearing on her face.

While Boa was busy enjoying what was essentially the emotional equivalent of a gallon of hot chocolate warming her body from within her stomach, Sasuke was in a very different boat.

Not for the first time since arriving here, he was at a loss as to what he should do.

It would be wise to keep her around and try to find out if there was some reason her snake was so attached to him and attempt to figure out some way to prevent such an encounter again. He had no desire to be swarmed by a mass of snakes in full public view that would beg several questions he was in no position to answer. If he wanted an answer, he probably wouldn't get a better chance than the one he had now.

And then… Boa had had her _moment_. The Uchiha had no idea exactly what the hell she had gone through, but it had been weird. She had gone from seductive, to shocked, to mellow, to friendly in the span of a few seconds. He knew that touching his leg had been part of the catalyst for her little episode, but he didn't have the slightest clue as to what exactly it had done to her or why it had happened to begin with.

Part of his rational mind was calling for either a general retreat or to send her away, whichever one was easier. He was uncomfortable enough around a strip joint, and the tail that was still curled around his leg didn't ease his apprehension. He had gotten intel on Roman, so perhaps it was best to leave before his new 'friend' had another crazy moment.

Then again, she did seem a bit less crazy now. He could still do without the tail contact, but the girl had backed off her advances and was actually behaving somewhat normally even if she was still a bit friendlier with him than she had a right to be.

If she wasn't going to hit on him then getting the information he wanted probably wouldn't be that bad.

It was at that moment, of course, when things got worse.

Devon had said she would send someone else in to top off his drinks, and another stripper came in out of the corner of his vision with a re-filled tray to do just that. Unfortunately it was someone the Uchiha knew and had hoped to not see again.

"Oh, thank you, Lav." Boa said as she wasted no time reaching for a pre-mixed cocktail that was so concentrated with lemon Sasuke wasn't sure if there was any alcohol in it at all. "You came at the perfect time!"

Sasuke strongly disagreed. He didn't know the girl's name, but the face and the purple hair that belonged to the woman he had strong-armed into helping him after beating up her friends was unmistakable.

She saw him as she turned to offer him a drink, and the Uchiha watched in real-time as her eyes popped open and her pupils dilated to the size of small coins as she realized just who her next client was.

' _She hasn't forgotten me. Dammit, of all the places in Vale, why did she have to be here?'_

He hadn't told her his name when they had first met specifically so she wouldn't be able to give it to the police if she went to them, but her colleagues would be able to give it to her now. And unlike Roman or Slate who both had something to lose if he was arrested, she had no such misgivings.

He had thought the girl would just forget about trying to come forward to the cops given that she and her friends were not exactly on the right side of the law when he had encountered them, and that his show of force would be intimidation enough to make her think twice about trying to call him out. It had worked so far, but that was only because she thought he was out of her life for good after he had let her go.

That calculus had shifted. She knew he was working for Roman, a regular client. And that meant she would assume he would be visiting often. If she was desperate to avoid him but wasn't able to, then her only option would be to go to someone for help.

And with her knowledge of his name and his fake identity, that was unacceptable. He was going to have to nip her potential whistle-blowing in the bud and **make** her have a more concrete reason to keep her mouth shut.

As he took a drink from the offered tray a vague plan began to form in his mind even as he saw that Neo had sent her own stripper away and had not taken her eyes off him since his snake magnet episode, enraptured by the drama that seemed to follow him. The purple-haired woman's instant fear of him was not lost on the ever more intrigued sociopath. Mismatched eyes were glued to him with an almost inhuman intensity as she began digging her fingers into her thighs from the rising tension and excitement.

' _Fine with me. If Neo wants a show, I'll give her a show.'_

Violet was struggling not to panic. It was just supposed to be a standard weeknight for her- not too busy, get some extra tips, and leave for the night when they closed. She had done it hundreds of times before with the worst sorts of company.

But right now even the clients who had put her through the most disgusting humiliations and degradations were looking like very acceptable alternatives to the monster in front of her. She had not wanted to see him again, and she had believed he thought the same given the fact he had told her to leave when she had 'assisted' him. But he was here, and she was expected to play the part of a lamb serving drinks to a hungry lion.

The sight of Reggie wrapped around him like a faithful pet of some kind only made the alarms in her head blare louder. It was… unnatural. Just like everything else about him.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you! Mr. Uchiha, this is Lavender. Lavender, this is Sasuke Uchiha, Torchwick's newest hire."

Her own personal living nightmare locked eyes with her in a knowing look. "A pleasure."

The fact that Boa had told him her stage name instead of her real one provided no comfort to Violet. His voice was just as smooth and baritone as she remembered, and was just as terrifying.

"L-l-likewise." she barely managed to squeak.

Violet felt cold. Not the outside-in-freezing weather kind of cold, but something else. The warmth wasn't stolen from her skin by some winter chill- it was _retreating_ inside her body. When she felt a droplet of clammy sweat beginning to form on her elbow, she realized she was starting to go into full on fight-or-flight mode.

The tray she was carrying began to jitter and vibrate from her trembling as she began losing control of her motor functions.

' _Stop shaking. Stop shaking. STOP SHAKING!'_

"Why don't you take a seat, Lavender?"

"I-I…" she couldn't stop trembling- instincts embedded into her very genome to save their host from danger easily began overruling her conscious will to freeze her muscles. "I re-really need to get ba-"

" **Sit."**

She should have just declined anyway and left. She should have just walked away and dealt with Miss Magenta yelling at her about how a proper hostess should never deny a client their company. But she didn't.

She couldn't. All thoughts of independence and resistance fled from her mind as quickly as the blood fled from her ever-paler skin whenever Sasuke was around. She had as much right to disobey him as a seal had the right to not be eaten by a shark.

She slowly positioned herself as closely as she dared to him before miraculously sitting down without spilling any of the drinks in her tray. Boa had already started talking to Sasuke again about some topic or another, but it was difficult to hear through her numbed senses.

Violet could tell that Boa seemed… calmer and more relaxed than usual. A friendly and amiable persona was expected by all of the employees when they interacted with clients, but for the most part it was an act that was dropped as soon as they were behind closed doors. But Violet could tell that Boa wasn't acting or putting on a genial or attentive act now- it was somehow genuine.

She began to look up to try and find some kind of excuse to leave, only to meet the mismatched eyes of the short woman who had been the other member of Roman's party.

The fact that Neo was not physically imposing did nothing to make her less threatening- a grin that stretched almost from ear to ear and just barely revealed her pearly teeth, and mismatched eyes were staring straight at her with fanatical intensity.

She was a psychopath, watching her squirm and writhe in fear and relishing every moment of it.

If Violet was scared before, she was terrified now.

As quickly as she dared, Violet turned her gaze toward the only possible ally she had in the room. Boa was a Faunus, so even with the dim lighting she would surely see her panic and fear?

Regrettably Boa's low-light vision wouldn't do Violet any good unless the Faunus actually looked at her and noticed her distress. And the snake woman had her eyes locked on Sasuke. The way that Boa was so intensely focused on him and utterly ignoring her distressed friend silently signaling for help only inches away was enough to make Violet believe that her colleague was in a trance of some kind.

"So Sasuke, what exactly is your job with Roman? I doubt he would invite a newbie here unless you made an impression." The snake-woman questioned, oblivious to her colleague's plight from the warm haze of the Uchiha's presence.

"Nothing too special. I'm a hired thug by every definition. Not quite an assassin like Neo over there, but good at getting people out of my way."

Violet looked back at Neo; whose grin was even wider than before. Both women began hyperventilating right in front of the other, though for drastically opposite reasons.

Violet realized right there that she was on her own. There were two people in that room who could kill her without effort and would not hesitate to do it. And her only ally was somehow so spellbound by one of them that she couldn't even notice Violet's signals for help. Cold sweat began to cover her skin in a smooth sheen as panic-triggered adrenaline forced her lungs to work overtime to provide extra oxygen to her muscles in what her conscious mind knew would be a futile attempt to flee or defend herself.

Neo had realized the same thing. And she **loved** watching every second of it. The way the purple-haired woman's face filled to the brim with fear and desperation, her futile attempts to call for aid, and her realization that she was trapped with no way out- it was ecstasy to her. Fish in a barrel, mouse in a trap; there were plenty of metaphors, but they all summed up the situation perfectly. Neo could feel her body respond to the rush of endorphins she released; her skin flushed, her temperature rose, and her nostrils flared as she could almost literally smell the fear from the terrified girl. Her lungs picked up their pace and deepened their contractions, giving more power to her legs to chase down her prey if it was foolish enough to run.

"Well, that's comforting." Boa continued. "I know the profession you've chosen is hardly one for the faint of heart, it's nice that you aren't the one that takes part in the more unpleasant duties of working with Roman."

"You shouldn't make such assumptions. I certainly prefer not to resort to violence if it can be avoided."

The nerves on the back of Violet's head alerted her to several objects disturbing her hair before five points of small pressure were felt on her skull. With renewed horror, she realized that Sasuke had placed his right hand behind her head and was gently gripping it in his fingers out of Boa's line of sight. Her eyes widened to impossible proportions in unquantifiable dread- the monster literally had her in the palm of his hand.

"Nevertheless, a certain level of intimidation is needed for some to take myself or Roman seriously."

The double-meaning of his words was not lost on Violet as she struggled to attempt to get her breathing under control. Her heart was pounding in her ears so loudly her panic-compromised mind actually thought there was a chance Boa would hear it.

"Not everyone can be bought with bribes or deals. For those who have something to gain by acting against us, a threat is the only way."

His fingertips adjusted their grip slightly, but to her surprise did not squeeze. If the context was ignored then it was an almost gentle grip- more fitting for an affectionate sibling or lover than the death threat she knew it was.

"If a gruesome outcome is not desired, that threat cannot be a bluff."

Even her eyes were trembling now, blurring her vision as her pupils shot back and forth from their overdose of adrenaline along with the rest of her muscles. But through the quaking picture her eyes were showing her, the heterochromatic woman was still watching her.

Every time Violet thought she couldn't be more terrified from the suspense or the promises of death she was proven wrong. The woman's face showed nothing short of bloodthirsty madness now- her eyes were wide as could be and she had on a full teeth-bearing smile that could only belong to a murderer or rapist that _lived_ off the fear and suffering of their victims. The predator began rubbing her thighs together and slowly extended her tongue, licking her lips right in front of her prey at the thought of ending her mortal existence to satiate her lust for the kill.

A slight tickling sensation on her cheek reminded Violet that Neo was not the only predator in the room. As if sensing her fear Reggie pulled his face right alongside hers and began to _taste_ her skin and sweat with his forked tongue, as if trying to decide if the fleshy being before it was a suitable flavor to devour.

"And the target has to **know it**."

And then- it happened.

A cold mass, heavier than an ocean, slammed into every square inch of Violet's body. Her muscles were forced to stop their frantic and desperate twitching and air was blasted from her lungs. A thousand needles freezing beyond any measure violated every pore of her body and stole every bit of warmth they touched.

Sasuke crushed her head in his hand like an egg- bits of skull and brain matter flew across the room in a shower of gore as everything in sight was splattered with her remains.

He gripped her throat and crushed her windpipe. Squeezing hard enough that the veins and arteries were pulled with enough torque to rip open and spill her life fluid across her collar and bosom.

A sword was thrust into her heart even as she begged for mercy that would never come. Her face paling as the blood that gave it its pink hue was ejected in a geyser of red that flooded her surroundings in an ever-growing crimson blossom.

She died a dozen more times in as many different ways and experienced every one of them.

Violet couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. She wasn't even sure if her heart was still beating.

Saline tears and sweat collected on her chin and nose, falling to the floor in enough quantity to form a small puddle at her feet in less time than it took to tie a shoelace. Uncountable droplets of perspiration poured from her skin in a deluge that soaked every strand of what little clothing she had and turned her primp hair into a matted and grimy mess in seconds. Liquid with an almost unmistakable odor slowly matted the leather cushion she was trembling under. From a distance she could be mistaken for a swimmer that had just exited a swimming pool.

Her lungs were crying out for her to take a breath. To _live._ But she couldn't. She would die if she moved. She would die if she breathed.

She had no right to live if he did not permit it.

"You don't look so good Lavender," he observed as he spoke in a smooth drawl that interrupted her thoughts, "Is everything all right?"

Violet felt the hand gripping the back of her skull turn her head toward the monster sitting next to her as he voiced his faux concern.

An unnatural chill danced on her skin as she stared into his obsidian pools- it was like staring into a lifeless machine. No emotion, no compassion, no anger, just a sheet of cold metal with the visage of a human face. The sight of his chest slowly rising and falling in the corner of her vision was the only proof that Sasuke Uchiha was a living person of flesh and bone.

"Holy shit, girl, you're whiter than a ghost! Are you feeling okay?"

Boa was momentarily broken out of her hypnotic trance upon seeing her friend looking as though she was getting ready to vomit, though it was no comfort to the blackmailed girl. Even as the Faunus leaned forward to grasp her hand in concern Violet could see that her movements were slow and her mind was sluggish from whatever state of excess contentment and relaxation he had somehow put her in. She was not going to be able to help.

"I… I… I do… I don-" Words and letters jumbled around in Violet's head as she desperately tried to string some kind of sentence together. She had a golf-ball sized lump in her throat that refused to budge or pay heed to her need to articulate some kind of excuse to get the hell out of there.

"You clearly aren't well, Lavender" interrupted the monster responsible for her condition, "perhaps you should take your leave and go home for the evening."

It was the exit she had been waiting for. But her body was still paralyzed from the earlier psychological trauma; thighs refused to budge despite the frantic signals from her brain to stand up and move.

The hand on the back of her head relaxed its grip and lowered itself down to her upper back before giving her a gentle push to get her on her feet. **"I insist."**

There was a pregnant pause as she stood motionless as a stature for a few moments, frozen from fear and shock. Slowly, she turned around just enough to see him in the edge of her vision.

"Th-thank y-ou s-s-sir."

Forgoing the usual apology for not meeting the client's expectations her position normally demanded, Violet concentrated on putting one numb leg in front of the other toward the exit door.

"Oh, and Lavender?"

She froze. His voice cut through her panicked mind like a knife and poised itself to cut the only thread of hope she had left. She was so close. So close! Her fingertips were brushing the doorknob!

Why wouldn't he just let her leave!

"I'm not sure what caused your little 'episode' just now; whether it was an expired snack you had earlier or just a sudden chill, I have no idea." He paused for a moment, letting the butterflies in her stomach turn into writhing tarantulas from the thickening tension. "It's not your fault that you weren't at your best tonight, and I don't blame you for it. But I must emphasize that taking care of your own well-being is your responsibility. For your own sake, please take care of yourself to ensure your health doesn't take another nasty turn like this."

Violet's sweat glands renewed their efforts to rid her body of every ounce of water it contained as the saline fluid coated her skin in a glossy sheen. Her jaw was locked in place, clamping down so hard from her adrenaline rush it was a miracle her teeth weren't cracking from the strain.

"You have many friends and colleagues here. They would be devastated if something were to **happen to you.** "

The door threatened to shake off its hinges from the renewed quaking of her hands. Still, she knew better than to leave yet. She couldn't leave without his permission.

"Something to keep in mind."

Finally released from her bondage, Violet turned the knob and opened the door. She didn't walk or sprint through it as her mind was demanding- she half-convulsed, half-fell though; the exhaustion of her mental torture and following fight-or-flight response catching up with her.

"My, I've never seen anyone fall apart like that" Boa muttered in concern before turning toward the man who was the source of her emotional high, "What do you suppose caused it?"

"No idea. I told her as much just now, remember?"

"Really? I do apologize sir, I didn't hear that. I'm kind of… spacing out. I just feel so… relaxed."

' _Well, that went well'_ the Uchiha thought to himself. Lavender, or whatever her real name was, had gotten the message loud and clear- it was up to her to keep her mouth shut now. Hopefully she would take his advice and not test him. He did feel a bit guilty for threatening an innocent civilian like that, the girl had simply had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Using his killing intent was perhaps a bit of an overkill even if he had only used less than a sixth of what he was capable of, but Sasuke couldn't take any chances.

She certainly didn't deserve to die, but he would follow up his threat and kill her himself if she snitched. He had briefly entertained the idea of simply capturing her instead and keeping her trapped in one of the two safehouses he had on the outskirts of Vale he had made for emergencies, but thought better of it. He could tie her down securely and return to feed her easily enough, but the Grimm would be attracted to her before long.

Killing innocents was a crime Itachi was guilty of, and something he wanted to avoid if at all possible. Unfortunately for Lavender, there was no possible compromise here. He needed to get home, and he was not going to stand for her or anyone else fucking it up.

As Boa seemed to melt further into her seat from whatever mental thing she was going through, a small bit of movement across from him caught his eye.

' _Well, Neo enjoyed what she saw.'_

She had a similar look of primal satisfaction as someone who had just stuffed themselves full of food on a holiday had. Her breathing was slowing down as she calmed herself, and her fingers twitched on the handle of her umbrella.

That, however, was where the similarities ended. The woman began rubbing her thighs together in a shameless display of a different kind of excitement. The Uchiha's eyes widened in surprise as she brought her free hand up to her mouth, wiping it with her finger to clean what he could vaguely see as excess saliva she had apparently _drooled_ while watching his blackmail performance.

Then, she slowly rose from her seat, licking her lips as she sauntered over to him with a hungry smirk.

' _Holy shit! Is that- did she- did she seriously get off from that?'_

Liquid that was neither saliva nor sweat coated the fabric of her inner thighs in a conspicuous dark patch that was so soaked that small droplets were beginning to fall to the floor. The scent wafting from her direction and filling his nostrils gave him no illusions as to what bodily fluid it was.

She was thankfully not heading toward his lap- she was not so rude as to cut in line and Reggie had technically claimed the spot first. Instead she plopped herself down on the now vacant seat to his right, pausing briefly to scratch Reggie underneath the chin in a gesture of goodwill before wrapping her arms around his own. Seemingly too content to care about the previous occupant's own various juices coating her area, mismatched eyes stared into his own in a confident and satisfied grin.

"Whew, that was just what I needed!" thoughts on how exactly to handle his current situation were interrupted as Roman all but waltzed back into the room with his stripper in tow. "You two been enjoying yourselves?"

Not as much as Roman apparently had. If his not-completely closed zipper and the not-quite saliva fluid still on his pants and his stripper's mouth was anything to go on. He was a fan of blowjobs, it seemed.

"What the hell is up with Miss Snake there?" he questioned as he noted her inebriated high. "And since when did you decide to become his shadow, Neo?"

Boa continued to stare at the Uchiha in her zoned-out trance, completely unaware of Roman's presence at all as she continued to bask in mental ambrosia. Neo just blinked cutely at the crime lord, only removing one arm from her grip to shrug a single shoulder before returning it to its desired place. The thief looked on in confusion.

"Did something happen?"

"…Nothing." denied the Uchiha. "Nothing at all."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Please come again, sir!"

' _Not if I can help it'_

Finally, after over five grueling hours, it was over. And by some divine blessing he had escaped unmolested despite Miss Magenta's last-minute attempts.

Surprisingly the last half-hour of the stay had been rather amusing. Roman had been stupid enough to challenge him to a drinking contest, and the fool had lost **hard**. Luckily, he and Neo had managed to get their ever-loyal driver to pick up the nauseous thief. Neither he nor Neo were brave enough to get a ride back home in the same car as Roman right now; a five-minute drive home was not worth the risk of being vomited on.

And so, he was now making his way back to his apartment with his heterochromic sidekick in tow. Neo was giddy, practically skipping behind him as she no doubt reminisced over the good memories she had of their visit. Sasuke, however, was in deeper thought as he went through all of the information he had learned during his subtle interrogations.

He had continued to try and continue his questioning of Boa after Roman had returned, with mixed results. He had learned that his presence, somehow, made her feel incredibly soothed and relaxed by physical contact alone. Much like his effect on Grimm, the Uchiha had no idea what the cause of the phenomenon could be. Luckily it seemed that only snakes or snake-based Faunus were affected by his presence. Boa was not the only Faunus he had touched- he had fought a few at Slate's who had challenged him for the title, none of whom had been affected at all.

So, all he had to do was stay in the city away from the Grimm and away from snakes in the rural areas of Vale, and avoid any other snake Faunus he happened to meet.

Keep doing what he was doing, essentially.

He had acquired one more piece of noteworthy information- Roman had never taken part in large-scale Dust theft before. He was guilty to high heaven with the more common crimes: smuggling, racketing, extortion, blackmail, robbery, and the like. But stealing Dust en mass like this was something unheard of not only for him, but any powerful crime boss.

The fact was stealing Dust was a risky business. Humanity's survival and safety depended in large part on Hunters and military forces having dependable access to large quantities of the substance. Which meant that anyone disrupting or reducing the supply of the invaluably strategic substance would be on the receiving end of an entire kingdom's law enforcement in short order, followed by the armed forces if the situation was serious enough.

By all accounts it wasn't worth the risk. The Uchiha had considered that with so much of Vale's military in Patch dealing with the increase in Grimm activity there the thief had simply decided to take advantage of their absence so long as it lasted, but Fantasia had mentioned that the dust robberies had begun almost a month before the Patch Anomaly disappeared.

The only real alternative was his previous theory- a third party that was paying and/or Dust-arming Roman to steal the Dust for them. And _that_ was a big problem for him. He had to find some way out before he was in too deep.

Brainstorming such an idea would have to wait as the Uchiha felt the telltale sensation of air rushing around a sharp weapon that was being sharply thrusted at him. He side-stepped the offending object with practiced ease, turning around to see Neo still holding her blade-tipped umbrella at him with an eager smile as though it was normal to perform sneak attacks on her partner.

The Uchiha pulled out his sword just in time to block her attempt to slash his knee before countering with a low kick to force her to give up her footing. She did just that, pulling off a graceful jump directly over his head before flipping and landing in a flawless courtesy.

"When I said we would be picking up our spar the next chance we had," the Uchiha interjected before Neo could attack again, "four o'clock in the morning was not the time I had in mind."

Neo only responded with a playful shrug of her shoulders before giving him an eager grin that conveyed her excitement at the pain and bloodshed at least one of them would endure before they parted ways. And Sasuke knew Neo's 'sparring' habits well enough by now that he knew she wouldn't be quitting until the sun rose in an hour or so unless he decided to end it quicker.

"Tsh, have it your way." declared the Uchiha as he readied himself. "But don't complain when I throw you and your little dress though another wall."

They both gave each other a small smirk, a tiny sign that they both respected each other's skills enough to truly enjoy the fights they had.

With a rush of displaced air and the sparks of clashing blades, their ritual began anew.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was midday, and the sun was blazing at the height of its arc through the sky. The intense rays were uncomfortable for any living creature to endure, but underneath the canopy of the forests in southern Anima conditions were more bearable. Few humans traveled this way- wandering Grimm were common this far away from Mistral, and few were willing to take the simple dirt roads to get to and from the paltry villages in the surrounding area that had not yet been annihilated by the dark creatures.

For Qrow Branwen, that meant that any tracks or trails left by his target would be easy to spot. It was so much easier in the bird form he was currently in- avians in general had exceptional vision. A trait required for accurately perceiving objects and creatures on the ground that were sometimes miles away.

The distant cry of a bird of prey of some kind persuaded Qrow to take a short break on a nearby branch. He had heard a few large Nevermores earlier, but he could not have cared less about them. One of the perks of being in Crow form was that Grimm could not detect his emotions. He could, and often did, fly inches away from the most savage of Grimm with no danger to himself whatsoever. As long as he was a crow, he may as well have been invisible to them.

A wild raptor, on the other, hand, was a threat he had to take seriously. Falcons in particular hunted and ate other birds- and crows were no exception. It was easy enough to simply shift back to his human form and make the bird loose interest, but he could only do that if he saw the attack coming.

He had learned that lesson the hard way a week after Ozpin had given him his shapeshifting ability. A falcon had come in from six-o'clock high in his blind spot as he was flying around the outskirts of Vacuo, and a ridiculously lucky thermal rising up to change his course at the last second was the only reason Qrow had not been turned into falcon shit.

The piercing cry he had just heard didn't sound like a Falcon, or any other wild raptor that ranged in this area of Mistral. He would know- he had made sure to memorize all of them he heard so he wasn't caught off-guard.

Still, despite the tree cover, it was better safe than sorry. Qrow had birds-eye vision too- he knew all too well how easy it was to track something from the sky even under the broken cover of foliage.

It was a good decision on his part. Moments later, the bird screeched again, much louder and closer this time. The cry was an unusually powerful one, much louder than any he had heard before. And Qrow was fluent enough with basic avian dialogue to know that the bird making it was pissed.

Deciding his mission was more important than sticking around to watch a bird fight over territory or a girlfriend, Qrow leapt off his branch and once again began gliding down the path to continue his hunt.

He didn't get more than ten feet away before he heard the distinct caws of multiple Nevermores, followed moments later by a crushing blast of air pressure that blasted loose leaves and twigs from their branches and almost pushed him to the ground.

' _What the fuck!? Is there a Hunter around taking the Nevermores out I didn't see earlier?'_

There shouldn't have been- this area was so remote Hunters rarely had reason to venture out to it. And he would have seen them coming long before they had gotten here whether they had walked the road or taken an airship.

Dodging falling debris, not to mention several very surprised and disoriented squirrels, Qrow flew on in a now desperate attempt to get as far away from whatever conflict was happening above as possible.

He had barely made it back to level flight when yet another explosion of wind smashed through the treetops, accompanied by the screeches and caws of the combatants above. Distinct thuds of beating wings and cracks of physical hits now permeated the area as the fight above descended low enough for the creatures below to hear the sounds of their blows.

And then, from the left side of his vision, Qrow saw what could only be described as a thin wave of compressed air make its way through the forest canopy.

' _An air blade?'_

It was all too familiar to him- he used a similar technique wielding his weapon that allowed him to launch a long-range projectile of air that could cut through even relatively sturdy targets such as the limbs of large Grimm.

They would cut through wood too, and Qrow dipped just enough to avoid being cut in half by mere inches. The surrounding forest didn't have the luxury of moving out of the way, and the attack cut clean through hundreds of branches and fully-grown tree trunks like a hot knife through butter.

Qrow widened his bird eyes in shock: an area several acres had been deforested in the blink of an eye with one attack. He wasn't the only Hunter who could use the Wind Blade technique- simply focusing one's aura around the bladed portion of their weapon and transferring the energy to the air around it meant that any Hunter with good aura control could perform it. But he had never heard of one as remotely powerful as this one. Even for an expert of the technique like him or Raven, they would need to use almost their own weight in wind dust to amplify the attack before it was even remotely comparable to what he had just seen.

' _Is that a Maiden fighting up there?'_ It was the only logical explanation Qrow had. Nothing else that had a reason to fight Grimm was that powerful. But it still didn't make sense- there shouldn't have been any Maidens around here. The Spring Maiden was still missing, but all of the intelligence he had gathered strongly suggested she was in North or West of Mistral.

Two black blurs fell to the ground in front of him as he found a concealed perch on a stump at the boundary of the freshly-deforested area and kicked up loose leaves from the thud of their impact. As the debris fell back Qrow saw that the black blurs were in fact two halves of a large Nevermore that had been cut cleanly in half from head to tail. Even as the defeated Grimm evaporated, he snapped his head toward another object impacting the ground much closer to him.

This impact was much faster and was only a blur even to his avian sight. And the force was orders of magnitude greater too- the ground shook beneath him in a manner more fitting for a small earthquake than a falling object. Qrow raised his head when the impact shockwave passed, and almost fainted from shock and disbelief.

Another large Nevermore was struggling on the ground, flapping its wings in a desperate attempt to get airborne. It was a futile struggle; the creature's left wing had been ripped off at the wrist.

And triumphantly standing on the Nevermore with its talons hooked around the Grimm's throat, was a Hawk. A **fucking huge** hawk.

It was twice the height of a grown man, with a wingspan that would no doubt be comparable to a small airship. Feet that were large enough to grasp around a horse or cow were armed with claws as large as a man's forearm. Light brown feathers covered the creature, with areas of darker mocha brown forming patches and stripes around its back, wings, and tail. A semi-circle pattern of nearly black feathers surrounded the animal's eyes in a pattern reminiscent of a raccoon's 'mask', and the top beak was decorated by a horizontal stripe of dark red. Piercing yellow eyes gazed around with such intensity and focus it was impossible to imagine anything could escape sight.

With a wet squelch and crack of snapping vertebrae, the hawk crushed the throat and broke the spine of the broken Nevermore in a single clench of its talons in a hair-raising display of power.

Despite the Hawk's outrageous proportions, it was still barely half the size of the Nevermores it had fought. The fact that the hawk had been the winner in a two-on-one matchup with them and had not even gotten a visible injury was proof enough that the animal was far more powerful than even it's ludicrous size would suggest.

Qrow quickly jumped up to ready himself to take flight- it was time to leave. He had no idea if this creature had been born from some random mutation or was an escaped biological experiment from Gods-know-where, but he didn't care. He would simply have to mention to Ozpin that an enormous hawk the size of a small room that could launch air blades stronger than any Hunter was flying around Anima and figure out what the hell to do from there.

' _I had heard rumors of a large bird being spotted in the middle of Higanbana's market, but I thought they were just crazy or exaggerated! Though I suppose it's no crazier than a rumor about a guy who can turn into a crow either.'_

Unfortunately for the disguised Hunter, the phrase 'eyes like a hawk' was an appropriate metaphor regarding the animal's ridiculously superior vision. He had barely managed to perch before the hawk's head swiveled in his direction and it zeroed in on him.

' _Shit, shit, SHIT!'_

Qrow was frozen- unsure of what to do now. He wasn't stupid enough to believe the animal's vision was based on movement or some other ridiculous notion; it had seen him. He couldn't fight it, even if he switched to human form Qrow highly doubted he could take this thing on in a fight. It was faster than either of his forms, and more powerful. If it decided to kill him for a quick meal there wasn't much he could do.

"It's rude to stare, you know."

Qrow almost fell off his perch- the thing had **spoken** to him!

Granted it wasn't the first time he had heard birds talk. As a crow he could make out the normal chirps and cries of various birds and understand them. It was a real eye-opener when he first listened in and realized that birds of all kinds did indeed have a rudimentary language they all shared. Even if there were massive variations across different species and regions.

Still, birds were not fully sentient beings as humans or Faunus were. So their vocabulary was mostly limited to simple 'words' such as "danger", "food", "leave", "angry", "you're hot", and other one and two-letter phrases. This was the first bird he had met that had formed a full and complete sentence.

"S-sorry," apologized Qrow, not wishing to antagonize the bird that he now recognized from the voice was a male. "I've just never seen a hawk your size before. I meant no offense."

"None taken. I would be amazed if you had."

"You're quite the unique individual yourself, sir." the hawk continued. "I haven't met another animal here capable of higher speech yet. Are there more like you?"

Qrow didn't like lying to others, especially ones he had just met. But that didn't change the fact he couldn't tell this thing about Raven. This thing was certainly not loyal to Salem, but that was no excuse for spilling Raven's secret for her.

"I'm afraid not. Unfortunately, fluent speech is a rare thing in the animal kingdom."

"Oh, and I was hopeful for a minute there." sulked the bird, lowering his head in disappointment.

' _Is he actually sad he can't make friends or something? I guess it makes sense he's lonely, not like he can find a compatible-sized girlfriend.'_

"Oh my, how rude of me, I haven't introduced myself!" exclaimed the hawk as he ruffled his feathers in embarrassment before opening his wings and lowering himself in an unmistakable bow. "My name is Garuda. It's a pleasure."

"Qrow Branwen," replied the Hunter. "Not to be rude, but you're not going to eat me, are you?"

"Oh, heavens no! I don't eat birds. Besides, I had a dolphin for lunch an hour ago."

"Sorry, I just wanted to make sure." Qrow replied as he hopped forward onto a stump closer to his new acquaintance. He felt a bit sorry for the poor dolphin who clearly stood no chance against the predator, but that was just the circle of life. "How did you get into a fight with the Nevermores just now? They usually ignore wildlife, did you get in their territory or something?"

"So that's what they're called. I was only passing overhead and checking the area out, I didn't steal any of their food and I didn't threaten any of them. It might have been territory, but if you ask me attacking a passerby unprovoked is quite uncalled for! If it had been me, I would have at least given them a fair warning. Uncivilized brutes!"

Qrow couldn't hold back a small caw of amusement. He had heard many descriptions for the creatures of Grimm, but 'uncivilized brutes' was a new one.

"Wait a moment, you said you didn't try to steal their food?"

"Absolutely not. I am more than capable of securing my own sustenance without resorting to thievery."

"Well, the Nevermores are Grimm, and they don't eat anything."

"What?" Garuda inquired, tilting his head in confusion. "How can they not eat anything? Everything needs food to survive!"

"Don't ask me how, they just don't. Grimm are creatures of pure destructive will that are driven to attack and destroy Humans, Faunus, and their creations. They are drawn and attracted to negative emotions but usually ignore animals unless they compete for territory like they thought you did."

"It still doesn't make sense," Garuda countered. "Everything needs energy of some kind to survive. If they don't get from eating food then.. how… do…" he trailed off, seemingly lost in thought.

"Well if they have a similar composition to Tailed Beasts" he murmured almost inaudibly to himself, "I guess it could be possible. These Grimm are composed of pure chakra like they are, so guess it does make some sense."

"Tailed what?"

"Tailed Beasts." Garuda clarified. "I can't go into too much detail, but I am familiar with a class of beings that are composed not of flesh and blood, but pure life energy. They are collectively referred to as Tailed Beasts, and because of their unique composition, they can survive without food or water. Instead, they passively absorb energy from the surrounding environment to sustain themselves. They can in theory do this indefinitely. The Grimm I've seen are different in that they are made of pure negative energy instead of both positive and negative. But if they are attracted toward negative emotions as you say, then perhaps it is these emotions that they feed off and derive sustenance from."

Qrow had heard a lot of crazy shit over the years. Remnant-shattering bombshells that would shake loose the foundations of what humanity thought it knew if they were made public. From Ozpin's reincarnations, to the Grimm having a boss, to Maiden powers that chose their own host every time their holder died, the list was a long one.

And Garuda's short explanation was now being added to that list. Qrow had never heard of Tailed Beasts before, and could only imagine where they or the hawk that spoke of them would have come from, but the logic answered several fundamental questions about Grimm that scientists had not yet answered.

It would explain perfectly why Grimm did not need to eat, and how they became stronger as they aged. It also meant that the four kingdoms looked a lot less like bastions of safety and more like livestock pens to fatten up and cultivate the Grimm's food.

"Well, you've given me unpleasant food for thought." Qrow stated quietly, still in thought as to the implications of Garuda's theory.

"Why does it matter to you? Didn't you say Grimm didn't attack animals?"

"They don't. But…" he struggled for an explanation. Even if Garuda was an animal, he didn't want to reveal ability to change forms to just anyone.

"You're a human in disguise, aren't you?"

Qrow's eyes shot open in surprise. How the hell had he figured it out!?

"Ho- how did you know?"

"I have the ability to sense life energy. I'm not the best I know at it by a long shot, but this close it's clear you've got some human in you. To be fair, your signature is mostly camouflaged as a crow. If it weren't for your ability to speak and your knowledge I might have been fooled."

"Jeez, that's the fastest my little parlor trick has been called out" Qrow lamented before quickly shifting to his human form for a brief moment to prove Garuda's statement before he shifted back to a verbally compatible crow. "I know you said you wouldn't eat me earlier, but should I be aware of any resentment against my species you might have?" he questioned, hoping Garuda hadn't had a baby chick that had been shot by a game hunter or something.

"Oh, no! Some Humans can be foolish and destructive, but I hold no personal grudge. I actually have a summoning contract with a human master."

"Wait, wait, wait, you have a master?" How the hell could this thing have a master? Just who was capable of taming him?

"I do. I'm not at liberty to tell you his name, but he made the contract with me a little over a year ago. His mind is a bit too one-tracked for his own good in my opinion, but he is very fair to his subordinates and has more than earned my loyalty."

"From the way you're talking about him, it sounds like he's more powerful than you."

"He is. He could defeat me quite easily if we happened to be enemies."

Now **that** was a terrifying thought. Was there really someone running around Remnant with that kind of power? Where could he have come from with no-one else hearing about him?

And it was a _he._ As in male. That should not have been possible. The only beings in Remnant with that kind of raw power were the four female Maidens, Salem (if she could even be counted as a human), and Ozpin. That was it.

Any further questions he had were likely to be unanswered. Garuda had said that he wouldn't be telling him anything else, which Qrow could sympathize with. He wasn't exactly going to go around and blab any of Raven's or Ozpin's secrets to anyone he had met ten minutes ago either.

"Well," the Hunter concluded, "I hope that whoever your master is, he doesn't turn into an enemy of ours. I don't particularly like my chances based on what you can do."

"You can rest assured. My master bears no grudge with anyone on Remnant as of yet, and wishes simply to be left alone and undiscovered. I know this is not all you wanted to learn, but I'm sure you understand I cannot yield such information to you."

"No hard feelings, I've been in your shoes before. Trust me, I get it."

"This might be a bit sudden of me, but would you do me a favor and inform your superiors that myself and my master have no wish for conflict with any of your kingdoms? We do not wish to fight anybody."

"I will. I need to get back to tracking my target; where are you headed?"

"Oh, I'm just scouting the continent for right now. I should set up a nest at some point and have something more comfortable to sleep in than the side of a cliff, but I need to find someplace with plenty of food away from people."

"I suggest you try the eastern edge of this continent. It should be far enough from settlements, though I can't be sure it will have game large enough for your appetite."

"Thank you for the suggestion. And feel free to visit if you're around; flying solo can be dreadfully boring. Best of luck with your mission!" said the giant raptor as he kicked off the ground to return to the open sky.

Qrow just continued to stare at the rapidly shrinking form of the Hawk for a few moments. Damn, he was majestic! The kind of bird that just made flying look cool.

Taking flight himself, he was still coming to terms with everything he had just learned. Even discounting the implications of Grimm metabolism and the presence of a human that was likely capable of going toe-to-toe with a Maiden, the fact that he had just held a conversation with a sentient bird the size of a small elephant after it killed two house-sized Nevermores was a tale to remember.

' _Dammit, I should have snapped a selfie with him something! This is the best pick-up-a-chick story I could ask for that wouldn't blow Ozpin's brotherhood secret, and I don't have any evidence! Fuck!'_

Oh, well. At least he could snap a picture of Oz or Glynda's face when he told them. Even if that wouldn't help him get laid, it would still be good for a laugh.

 **AN: Alright, so some canon characters and some OC's in this one. Not as much action, but not every chapter can have a climactic battle or big plot twist.**

 **Bonus: Who can guess the characters that Boa and Reggie are based off of? If you want a hint: they aren't from the same franchise. If you can guess them then… well I'm not going to give you anything but I will tell you you're smart because you watch the same stuff as I do.**

 **Please read** **and review!** **You have no idea just how much it motivates myself and pretty much every other writer on this site.**


	10. Widening Cracks

**AN: I procrastinated the crap out of this. I wish I had a better excuse, but I don't. If it's any consolation this is the longest chapter yet, broke the 25,000-word mark with this one!**

 **As for the question in the previous chapter, Reggie is based off of the snake from Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark, the one that he gets stuck in a plane with at the beginning of the movie.**

 **As for Boa, sorry to say but none of you got it. It's partially my fault because I probably should have told you that I based Boa off of another character's** **appearance** **, not their name. And remember, Boa isn't her real name either- it's only her stage name. The correct answer was Salome, a snake owned by Boa Hancock. If you look her up, you will see that her blue hair (on a snake, somehow?) and red scales match the description I gave for Boa.**

 **NightmareKnight1- Neo and Roman do seem to have a deeper connection than a simple crime lord and hired henchman in the series, but being a fanfiction that is subject to change. Hopefully you'll like what I do with it.**

 **KnightofZaku- Glad to know you like my OC's so far. It's kind of weird, people either love them or hate them. I haven't really seen much middle ground for some reason. Wonder why that is?**

 **silverhawk 88- He used killing intent. Remember when Orochimaru met Team 7 for the first time in the Forest of Death and used KI to make Sasuke and Sakura see their own deaths? That's exactly what he did there. It's canon that you don't need Genjutsu to pull that off.**

 **Tobi14- You are doing some deep thinking with what I wrote in the last chapter- good job. It will do you well to remember. As for Sasuke's growth and evolution, there might be a few paragraphs in this chapter that may interest you.**

 **Shadow Phoenix- This might be a bit much to ask, but do you happen to have a fanfiction account? You brought up a number of points in your review that would be quicker to discuss via PM. I don't think we're on the same page with everything, but you seem like the kind of guy it would be fun to bat thoughts and ideas back and forth with.**

 **Fanfictions4ever- Glad you enjoyed it as always! Yeah, the fact that all of this story so far has happened before the first episode is something I can scarcely believe myself, I had thought I would be further along by now…**

 **Guestarundo- regarding your speculations about Neo, you might be interested in this chapter.**

 **TwoHeadedSnake- Your prayers have been answered.**

 **There is a lemon in this chapter. If it's not your thing- skip it. You have been warned.**

'sign language'

' _thoughts'_

 **Uchiha of Remnant**

Chapter 10: Widening Cracks

With a loud thud, a wooden box was thrown onto the floor to a waiting truck. Several men clad in black quickly slid the box to its appropriate spot amongst several other containers before yet another was tossed up with audible grunts of effort from the laborers toiling below. And they weren't alone- dozens of men were working to carry and move large boxes full to the brim of Dust of every conceivable element and cut. Some loads were so massive they had to be transported on 'borrowed' forklifts and dollies. Slowly but surely the ant labor began to empty the storage warehouses from which the Dust had come.

Standing off to the side and not taking any part in the manual labor before them were Roman, Neo, and the masked Uchiha. Roman looked on in casual satisfaction, drawing long drags from his cigar as his robbery of the largest dust store in the city of Vale was so far going flawlessly.

"Well I have to say this is a rather splendid evening so far" expressed the thief in his usual chipper manner. "And to think one of us almost didn't make it." Roman said, giving a pointed look to the disguised Uchiha.

"If you needed my help for a large operation like this," countered Sasuke, "you should have given me more than an hour's notice."

Seriously, what had Roman been thinking? Did he not know how to send a memo?

He had made sure to give Roman a sour look when he had arrived to make sure the thief knew that he did not appreciate being called in on such short notice on a job that had no doubt been planned for days.

And adding to his frustration Roman had picked a bad time to call him over to help. He had hit a snag creating the seal, and had gone to channel his irritation in a far more productive manner than silently brooding in his apartment: physical training.

Not that he wasn't developing his newfound electric abilities with his cut of Lightning Dust when he had spare time, but sitting around turning other people's scrolls on and off didn't do much to work off frustration or boredom. Not to mention there was nothing else that quite gave the same sense of accomplishment than going to sleep with sore and worked muscles.

He had been lucky enough to find an abandoned factory of some kind a few blocks from his apartment, and it still had enough heavy equipment and sizeable metal objects to use as a makeshift gym. For the past three weeks he had been going there whenever he hit an obstacle with his seal and wasn't in the mood to watch a teenager lose their mind when he turned off their scroll in the middle of messaging their friends.

It was just as well. The Uchiha had certainly not neglected his physical training during his time with Orochimaru, but there was no denying that developing his Taijutsu had taken a backseat to improving his Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. Defeating Itachi was going to be out of the question if he couldn't break out of a Kage-level illusion, after all.

This prioritization had meant that Sasuke's physical growth had not quite kept pace with his overall learning curve. But now that he could not afford to waste chakra practicing the more extravagant shinobi arts, he was now focusing a far greater fraction of his efforts into increasing the raw power of his body.

And if he could pull off powerful physical hits, it would be another weapon to use against his inevitable re-match with his traitorous brother. Blasting Itachi with a Fireball or impaling him with a Chidori were both certainly appealing, but there was nothing that quite said 'fuck you' like a punch to the face.

And there was no shortage of creative methods to train his muscles while he was here. Leg presses and push-ups balancing a forklift, upside-down abdominal crunches while holding motors weighing hundreds of pounds, and shadowboxing with cinder blocks attached to his wrists.

Multiple reps of _those_ for hours on end were starting to yield results.

It was just as painful and as intense as all those years ago when Kakashi had trained him into the ground to improve his speed and stamina enough to where he could properly perform the Chidori and not be crushed to death by Gaara's infamous sand. The results, however, were just as much worth the effort now as before. His muscles were beginning to grow in both density and size ever so slightly- a consequence of intense physical training during one of his last growth spurts. A few more months down the road and the last remnants of lankiness from his boyhood would be gone as well.

But extreme physical training came at a price. It did wonders to reduce his stress and frustration when he had difficulty creating his seal, but moving around with exhausted and sore muscles that had been subjected to a five-hour workout with no breaks was not pleasant.

' _And knowing Neo, I have a spar to look forward to after this too'_

Neo's appetite for having him beat her up in sparring had not been appeased in the slightest since they had started. Despite the fact she had yet to win a single round, she was almost always the one to instigate them.

Actually he had noticed that lately Neo had developed a habit of trying to one-up him in one endeavor or another. Perhaps she was trying to cope with her consistent losses to him during their fights, but if that was the reason then she needed to attempt something else.

She had tried to knock out more employees and civilians that were unlucky enough to be present when they robbed various stores, but even with her semblance there was no way she was matching his speed. Though it had been amusing to tell her she had barely taken out half the number of people he had and watch her face blanch in disbelief and subsequently cross her arms and make her trademark pout.

And then she had been moronic enough to try and beat him in beer pong of all things. Considering he had been able to throw a kunai or shuriken accurately enough to shave an animal's fur from a hundred yards away since he was eight, it was a challenge she had been doomed to fail even without mentioning his alcohol tolerance.

Before he could continue his musings about Neo, the trademark sound of police sirens crept into his ears. Sasuke and Neo had managed to take out the security system before the silent alarm could be activated, so the Uchiha briefly considered it was possible they were responding to another crime somewhere else.

A few seconds later that hope was shattered. More sirens had joined the first- at least ten or twenty more. Five seconds later and _another_ group of police could now be heard coming from the opposite direction.

Clenching his teeth, Sasuke gripped his sword in annoyance. This was exactly the situation he had hoped to avoid. He still had his mask on, but with that many police coming there was no way this fight would be a clean or simple one regardless of who the winner was.

"What's wrong, kid? Don't tell me you're getting nervous" teased Roman as he took another drag from his cigar.

Sasuke turned, bewildered that the crime boss was so composed. He was about to ask Roman if he had planned for the approaching police convoy, but a glimpse at the thief's confused look was enough to remind him that neither Roman nor his fellow humans here had Faunus genetics or chakra to enhance their hearing.

"The Police are on their way. Less than three minutes out."

"What? I don't hear anything. Look, I know I said you needed to grow a sense of humor, but this isn't exactly what I meant."

"I have very good ears. They're coming."

A tap on his shoulder redirected his gaze to Neo, who had already taken out her umbrella. A few hand signs that vaguely resembled some of the hand seals from his home world flashed before him. Grateful he had taken the time to learn the sign language of this world so Neo wouldn't need to resort to texting him for more extended conversations, he quickly translated her motions.

'How many and how far away?'

"There's at least thirty cars, probably more" Sasuke elaborated. "Half coming from the North, half from the South."

"Oh, come on kid" sighed Roman, looking slightly miffed that Neo so readily believed his words. "Myself included, twenty-four hours ago only five people knew that this party would be happening- everyone else was in your boat and got the invitation an hour before it started."

Sasuke's retort was rendered unnecessary as the sirens finally got close enough to be heard by human ears. The heads of Roman, Neo, and the henchmen all turned in unison toward the sound like a group of humanoid Prairie Dogs that had heard the rustle of an approaching predator.

And now that they were closer the Uchiha also saw that the Police had brought an airship with them as well. He had no idea whether it was there as eyes in the sky or extra fire support, but in either case it put them at a heavy disadvantage.

"Well I'll be damned," growled Roman, "I guess there's a certain someone I need to pay a visit after we're done here!"

' _No, it wasn't one of the people Roman told about the robbery. The job has been going on for almost an hour now- if the Police had a tip from yesterday, they would have ambushed us earlier when we arrived. For them to be showing up now means that whoever told them only learned this was going down after we started.'_

And that meant that whoever had snitched was still here- himself, Roman, and Neo had been overseeing the operation and would have seen them escape if they had tried to flee. And if they were in the crowd of illegal movers, then they would have to still be in contact with the Police to let them know exactly where they were so they wouldn't get caught up in any firefight.

Sasuke began scanning the men below him. Some of them were starting to panic, others were hastily getting weapons ready. Three seconds later, the Uchiha found what he was looking for- an average, inconspicuous man getting into the driver's seat of one of the trucks in a far less panicked manner than his fellows. Keeping his head cool and calm under pressure would have been an asset in most dangerous situations, but here it made him stand out like a sore thumb.

It was a mistake that would cost him.

Faster than anyone around him could track, Sasuke closed the distance to his target and punched through the drivers' window. The Uchiha grabbed the man's neck almost before the noise of the shattered glass reached his ears and dragged him none-too gently through the now windowless door before throwing him at the surprised Roman's feet.

"Here is your traitor."

The man looked up- eyes wide with confusion and the first stirrings of fear as he realized he had been caught flat-footed.

"Tha- that's absurd! I've been helping move Dust the whole time!" he defended, desperately trying to buy enough time for his colleagues to arrive.

"Then perhaps you can explain this message you sent three minutes ago" the masked Uchiha stated coldly, holding the traitor's scroll in his hands and displaying the texts sent to the commanding Police Chief for the crime lord to see.

"Well then my good man," Roman started as he walked toward the kneeling man, who by now was white in the face from fear, "it seems you weren't lying about helping us move dust. Unfortunately, that doesn't change the fact that you're a dirty little rat that needs to be exterminated!"

"D-don't be stupid, Torchwick!" the man began pleading, trying to stall long enough for the train of police cars to arrive. "You kill a cop, and you'll have a target on your back the size of Beacon Tower!"

"Oh, and I don't have that now? With the train of cops coming to arrest me _right there_!?" Roman retorted, grabbing the man by his hair and shoving the business end of Melodic Cudgel into his throat.

"I'll admit the odds aren't completely in my favor here," snarled Roman, "but I just might be able to dig myself out of this hole you dug me into if I have a nice, valuable hostage to negotiate with."

Without warning Sasuke's hand suddenly shot out, pushing away Roman's threatening cane from his victim.

"No."

Roman instantly rounded on his extra help, eyes narrowing in anger as he fixed a glare that Neo recognized as the one that he wore when he was pissed enough to forgoing her help entirely and slit the throat of the target of his wrath himself.

To his credit, the Uchiha didn't so much as flinch from the threat.

"Care to repeat that, kid?" the thief asked, his grip on his weapon visibly tightening. "I know you came on board with that whole 'no killing' bullshit, but if you don't want your body dumped in the ocean tomorrow you will roll up your sleeves and you will do it **now**!"

"You misunderstand me, Roman" the Uchiha calmly replied. "Taking a hostage will only work against us right now. We have no way out of the blockade they'll be setting up, and we won't be able to hide with their airships above us. Stalling for time with a hostage is only going to allow them to bring more reinforcements. We need to take out their airship and enough of their forces to escape, and do it now."

"Oh, so you're the idea guy now, huh? Well then smartass, how exactly do you suggest we handle this? Invite them for evening tea and tell them we've seen the error of our ways?"

"I can handle the airship" Sasuke answered as he eyed the second-story roof on the building next to them.

"As for the Hunters and the Police," he turned to his unofficial partner, who so far had been looking back and forth between himself and Roman trying to figure out which plan to follow. "I have a better idea."

* * *

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Flying high above their fellow law officers, the Police airship maneuvered itself above the now busted Dust-robbery with a deep rumble as its engines continued to fight the relentless pull of gravity. Having reached their destination, the co-pilot pointed the craft's spotlights directly on the robbers below. Taking only a brief moment to assess the ground below with a professional gaze that quickly but accurately analyzed the situation, the pilot swept the tail of the airship around until it was parallel to the group of criminals below and opened the side doors of the craft to reveal a gunner that was preparing the mounted machine gun for the expected battle as well as a much larger figure next to him wearing dark camouflage and carrying what looked like a superfluously-broad sword on his back.

The pilot then brought up his hand to the side of his helmet to turn on his speaker.

"Hey Dutch, remember how you said during our last mission that you were disappointed the bad guys gave up without a fight?"

"All too well" replied the armed and bulky figure.

Unlike the police officers he was helping, Dutch was a fully-trained Huntsman. And as such, missions such as aiding law enforcement were seen neither as dangerous nor as glorious as the more famed Grimm extermination jobs. An opinion the Huntsman shared.

Not that he didn't understand the necessity of it. With the target of this raid being Roman Torchwick, the most influential and dangerous gangster in Vale, and who possessed aura himself, the Police Chief couldn't just put his men's lives on the line without some kind of heavier back-up. And so himself and a second Huntsman on the ground had been brought along to make sure Roman could be captured with minimal casualties.

"Why, do you think Torchwick will actually have some bite to him?"

"He's not going to surrender, that's for sure."

Looking down, Dutch found Roman's trademark bowler hat and saw the man angrily shouting and waving to his subordinates. He was organizing his men into defensive positions, getting them to take up spots around the edges of buildings, trucks, and other features. He was going to fight.

Dutch's mouth quickly grew a grin. The cops might not like to get their feet wet, but for a Huntsman like him it was exactly what he wanted. He wouldn't be doing his job very well if he only confronted the threats to humanity that didn't fight back.

"Wait a minute," interjected Dutch, his smile diminishing as he remembered a crucial detail of the mission. "What about your mole? Did he get out?"

"Officer Winchester? Yeah, he broke through the hostiles right before we got here. See that big truck over there? He's getting out of it now."

Redirecting his gaze, the Huntsman found the truck. Sure enough, a figure matching Winchester's description he had been given earlier was helped out of the vehicle. It was obvious the mole had been forced to resort to fleeing the robbery once the trap had been sprung, the 'borrowed' truck having been used to drive through the surrounding fence and across the curb.

The officer seemed alright at least, even if he was all business- not even pausing to trade greetings with his comrades as he made a beeline to the commanding officer.

Even from their distance in the airship it was clear Torchwick did not appreciate being sold out. Dutch was no lip-reader, but in between rushing his men to take up positions it was clear he spared every moment he could to drop as many F-bombs as he could on the betrayer.

"Alright then," the Huntsman reached behind his back, gripping the handle of his weapon. He crouched slightly, readying himself to jump straight at Roman when they started their attack.

And then, with no warning, the view below them darkened, then lit up again, then darkened. Dutch and the others on board the airship as well as the police below could only look around in confusion, either trying to re-find their targets in the area that was essentially lit by strobe lights or looking up at the cause of it- the airship's massive floodlights flickering on and off.

"Damn it, what the hell?!" the pilot cursed as he desperately pushed the floodlight control panels and attempted to return the much-needed illumination for his colleagues.

"What's going on up there?" Dutch interrupted harshly; upset he had lost his visual on Roman.

"I don't know, our lights are on the fritz for some reason. I don't know how this could have happened; I had a full maintenance done on this thing four days ago!"

"Well fix it quick! It's not gonna take long for those scumbags down there to take advantage of this little brea-"

The last part of Dutch's sentence went unheard by the pilot. In an instant, a blade silently appeared inside the cockpit. It hadn't seemed to travel from somewhere else outside the airship or otherwise; one moment it was just… there.

And it was embedded in his shoulder.

"Gahh!"

Mid-way through his cry of pain, the pilot saw his attacker. Covered in midnight-blue cloth with a similarly-shaded ski mask, a male figure whose camouflage made him nigh indistinguishable from the surrounding darkness was perched on the nose of the airship. Despite the turbulence and rocking of the airship, the attacker maintained his stable position on the smooth metal as easily as if he had Gecko feet.

Following the arm of his attacker was a short, thin sword blade that had actually pierced through the bulletproof glass of the cockpit so cleanly not a single hairline crack could be seen.

The sensation of warm liquid on his arm brought the pilot back to the reality that his wound was bleeding out.

He instinctively shot out his good arm and gripped the offending weapon in a desperate attempt to remove it. The hand was withdrawn in agony a split-second later, the adrenaline shock not enough to make the pilot ignore the biting sensation of sharpened metal cutting his fingers to the bone in his hasty attempt to free himself.

Fortunately for the pilot his assailant was relatively merciful; the very next moment the blade was withdrawn from the wound and its wielder vanished from sight completely.

The pilot wasted no time to capitalize on the abrupt end of his attack, using his good arm to apply as much pressure as he could to his injury to stem the bleeding.

As he fought to keep himself from going into shock the pilot suddenly became aware that Dutch was shouting into his headset.

"Hey, what the fuck is going on up there!? Are you trying to throw us off!?"

It was no wonder really; with the joystick controlling the airship's movements on only one side he had no choice but to use his injured arm to direct its motion. And with his sudden blood loss and fight-or-flight instincts edging out his rational thoughts the airship was rocking and listing like a toy boat that had been thrown into whitewater rapids.

"I've taken a hit up here!" the pilot shouted into his radio, having the presence of mind to switch to the main police frequency so every unit would be informed. "I'm bleeding badly, I've got to take her to the station or the first hospital I find before I black out and crash this damn thing!"

Cursing under his breath, Dutch readied himself to jump out. The gunner in the airship with him was a run-of-the-mill human and couldn't make the jump to the ground without breaking his legs; he was going to have to leave with the airship.

Scanning the area below as the airship turned to leave, he once again tried to locate Roman. If he could take him out the rest of his help would hopefully surrender. And maybe he could find the son of a bitch who shot his pilot while he was at it.

Now that he thought about it, how had the pilot been shot? Everyone below had merely taken positions to prepare for a firefight- no one had actually fired their guns yet. A semblance from a rogue Hunter Roman had hired, perhaps?

Just great. Just how far South could this ambush go before the night was over?

A sudden flurry of movement on the ground snared his attention. Eyes that were veterans of hundreds of missions that had failed, succeeded, and everything in between widened in shock.

The universe had provided an answer to his question: it could go **very** far South.

Their mole, Officer Winchester, had made his way to the Police Chief and had slashed his chest open.

Not content with giving the chief a potentially fatal wound, he was now hacking and skewering his way through the cops surrounding him with what looked like a… pink umbrella?

' _Just what the hell is going on?'_

Any other coherent thoughts were suddenly replaced by the painful sensation of being kicked in the back by what felt like a wrecking ball. Barely keeping hold of his weapon from the sneak attack, Dutch slammed into a police car below like a missile and crumpled it into scrap metal.

Years of training and combat experience forced his body to twist himself free from the wreckage and stand up with his weapon drawn to face whoever had attacked him.

It wasn't a moment too soon- he defended himself just in time to intercept a follow-up slash from a figure that was dressed head to toe with clothing that was intended to hide them in the shadows and nothing else.

On the other side of the clashing blades, Sasuke took a brief glance around them to check on the rest of the battlefield.

So far, everything was going about as smoothly as he could have hoped for. It had been easy enough to knock out their little snitch and have Neo disguise herself with his visage long enough to infiltrate their lines and start picking them apart from the rear while Roman and the rest of the henchmen began to open fire as the trap was sprung.

As for him, his job was to take out the airship. It was fortunate that he had finally refined his ability to interfere with electronics, which he had decided to name Mizuchi, to a sufficient level to turn off the searchlights. Just the searchlights; turning off the engines and killing the people on board in the resulting crash was not his goal. And with the lights off, jumping up to the cockpit of the vessel and stabbing the pilot with a serious but non-fatal wound to force him to retreat before he bled out was a simple task.

Now, he just had to take care of one Huntsman. His opponent was bulky to the point it was unlikely he spent less than twenty hours a week at the gym. He wasn't quite as stocky as BoneSaw, but he would still likely be slowed down a bit by the extra mass. He was middle-aged or slightly younger, which meant he had experience.

But it was his weapon that really drew Sasuke's attention. The sheathe was so large he had assumed it was a broadsword that would double as a makeshift shield or something equally ridiculous, but now that it was drawn it was obvious that wasn't the case.

It was in fact a double-bladed sword with both blades extending out from the guard parallel to each other. Roughly three inches of empty space separated the two swords; with the longer of the two blades over four feet in length and by itself would have probably been a rather standard longsword. The shorter blade was less than half the length of the former but far thicker, almost resembling an enlarged four-sided spear tip. And embedded in said blade so perfectly the Uchiha almost missed it, was a gun barrel.

He had forgotten where he had read it, but he did vividly remember a certain phrase he had stumbled upon when he had been reading about Hunters and their weapons.

No matter what it looked like, no matter what it appeared to be, a Hunter's weapon would also be a gun.

Heaving from adrenaline and fury, the Huntsman gave Sasuke a glare that could have melted ice. "Are you the guy who stabbed my pilot!?"

Briefly the Uchiha wondered why he was cursed to fight more than his fair share of stupid and hot-headed opponents.

' _What kind of fool would even bother asking that question in the middle of a fight?'_

This guy was mentally challenged if he thought the Uchiha was going to be nice enough to say a word to him; much less give him an honest reply.

"Fine then, don't answer!" he roared in frustration at the Uchiha's silence. "I came here to apprehend Torchwick, but if I have to kick some random Rogue Huntsman's ass first then so be it!"

Ducking under a sudden lateral swing by his opponent, Sasuke came to the logical conclusion that his so-far tried and true strategy of staying out of the gun's line of sight would be a priority. But the nature and use of the weapon before him only became more confusing now that he had a clear look at the hilt.

It was massive. Approaching two feet in length if he were to guess. But the real unusual characteristic was its twisting curvature. It almost resembled a cut-out piece of an extremely-stretched slinky.

It looked like it had been designed by a four-year old. Too large and unwieldy to rapidly change direction, too small to act as a reliable shield, and the handle so misaligned from the weapon's axis it was probably a chore just to hold up straight.

His opponent followed up his missed swing with another strike in the opposite direction. An attack the Uchiha blocked with his own sword, metal screeching as the longer of his enemy's blades failed to cut through his Kusanagi or even budge his arms back more than a couple of inches despite the webbing of cracks forming around Sasuke's feet from holding his ground from what was clearly significant force.

' _That was easier to stop than I thought'_

Even without using his full strength Sasuke had expected his adversary's bulk and heavier weapon to pack more power than that. The Huntsman had more physical strength than Neo, that was for sure, but it still wasn't quite enough to match his.

He responded with his own force- using his shorter weapon to push back and get easy leverage over their blades' point of contact. He shot his arm forward to grab the wrist of the Hunter in a vice-grip powerful enough to put dents in his aura shield by itself.

Unlike the Uchiha, the Huntsman did not have the luxury of being able to safely remove one of his hand from his weapon. A Great Sword (if his adversary's freak of a weapon could even be called that) needed two hands on it at all times to wield effectively, especially in a blade lock such as the one he was currently in. So Sasuke had peace of mind that his extended hand was under no threat of being countered.

With strength far in excess of his size the Uchiha spun around and twisted his opponent's arm over his shoulder, joints creaking and tendons stretched as the appendage was almost removed from its socket. Sasuke proceeded to slam his enemy into the asphalt hard enough to shatter it before tossing him straight into the air, giving him just enough time to switch to a double-handed grip on his own weapon.

It was a rare occasion that any shinobi would bother putting effort into making an attack as powerful as possible. Just landing an attack was enough to bear fruit. But Remnant had aura to consider, and breaking his opponent's shield meant that he had to hit hard.

The Uchiha brought his sword to eye-level and twisted his body around before reversing direction in an instant. Pivoting on his forward foot and leaning into the strike, Sasuke put all of his body weight and momentum into a single thrust that made contact with the gut of his falling opponent.

The Huntsman's aura was the only reason Sasuke's sword didn't penetrate his body all the way through to his spine; but a sheen of crackling green light fluorescing near the point of impact betrayed that protecting its host had required a significant sacrifice from the protective shield.

With the flesh protected from being skewered by the thrust, the force behind the strike instead turned into a massive physical blow that shot the Huntsman into a solid cinder block wall eighty feet away at a significant fraction of the speed of sound. For a brief moment, the ear-splitting cracks of gunfire from the surrounding battle were joined by a concussive boom of rapidly displaced air.

Sasuke shot forward to capitalize on the blow, reaching his target before the shattered debris that moments before was solid masonry fell to the ground. But his opponent wasn't a battle veteran for nothing- despite the Uchiha's attacks he had managed to keep a hold of his weapon with his good hand.

For the second time in their fight the Huntsman bypassed his natural reflexes and relied on pure instinct to defensively position his blade just in time to block the Uchiha's follow-up attack.

Panting with effort and frustration but not yet lost to blind rage the Huntsman suddenly thrust his sword forward until the guard caught on Kusanagi and was close enough for Sasuke to feel his adrenaline-laden breath. The longer blade of his enemy's weapon was now more than close enough to land an attack him, the Kusanagi being the only thing preventing him from being split in half from skull to groin by a blade edge now hovering mere inches above the Uchiha's head.

Even without the Sharingan Sasuke could almost see what looked like every muscle in his opponent's upper body tense up before he lunged forward, bringing down as much force as he could to break past the Uchiha's defense.

Sasuke's recently improved strength was more than enough to hold the attack back, but he wouldn't win the fight by just blocking. Instead he performed a textbook perfect dip to get a few inches underneath his opponent's outstretched arms before springing forward and throwing an elbow strike straight into the gut that was powerful enough to dent and concave the aura shield.

The hit was enough to force the Huntsman back several inches, giving Sasuke just enough room to land a swift backhand punch to his elbow and follow up with an upward slash from Kusanagi on the target's extended forearms. The Huntsman's sword and both arms holding them were thrown skyward from the hit, leaving his entire front as vulnerable as an armadillo's belly.

Kusanagi flashed at speeds comparable to the bullets being fired by the combatants around them, slashing the Huntsman with a frenzy of attacks that only ceased when the power of said assault pushed the target off his feet and out of range.

The Uchiha rushed forward to press the attack only to find the mutant blade once again blocking him. His enemy was much slower than he was, but he was experienced enough to lift his feet from the ground when he knew he would lose his footing and re-plant them instead of toppling over flat on his back.

Behind his mask, Sasuke grit his teeth in frustration. Aura really was a game-changing factor in battles here and it was one he most certainly did not appreciate. Taking out any Hunter with a single attack with Taijutsu or Kenjutsu was a pipe dream without resorting to Chidori, and this one was no exception. Had the man been a shinobi Sasuke would have won in two seconds flat, but with aura protecting him from any real damage and the Huntsman's impressive battle instincts preventing the Uchiha from outright overwhelming him with superior speed this was going to take longer.

Unfortunately for the Uchiha time was not his ally. Sparing a glance to assess the rest of the battle, he did not see any reason for optimism from his allies either.

Roman and his henchman were in a stalemate with the police with neither side willing or able to break from their positions of cover. Even in the dark of night without the Sharingan active Sasuke could see the bullets and the occasional spread of shotgun blasts both sides were firing at each other, small flecks of metal zipping and shooting across the area like pebble-sized shooting stars that were invisible to everyone else and instant death to those who were unfortunate enough to not possess aura.

It wouldn't be a deadlock for much longer though. Several of the pinned units were making calls for backup that would likely only be minutes away. They were content to lay down just enough suppressive fire to prevent Roman or any of his men from attempting to escape and force them to use up their smaller stock of ammunition.

Roman's position made prospects of retreating all the bleaker. Boxes and vehicles filled to the brim with raw dust were scattered around their positions. Each container was now effectively a potential bomb that required only a single bullet, regular or otherwise, to set it off. Neither Roman nor any of his men were willing to risk killing themselves fleeing through what was effectively a minefield.

To top it off Neo's surprise attack had stalled. She had taken out several dozen officers earlier, but her assault was stalled by what appeared to be a second Huntsman on the ground. He was much thinner and more lightly-built than his own opponent, and was agile enough to keep a reasonable enough pace with Neo's jumping and twisting to prevent her from breaking off and continuing mauling the police blockading Roman's escape.

With Roman pinned down, the outcome of this battle would depend on whether or not he or Neo could defeat their respective Huntsman before enemy reinforcements arrived.

He redirected his full attention to the Huntsman in front of him, who seemed to be struggling with the fact that he could not push back or overpower his much smaller foe. Determined to end their fight quickly, the Uchiha began lifting his foot to take a step forward and get inside his opponent's effective strike range when his enemy suddenly smirked.

Sasuke's eyes widened. He had been in enough fights to know that look meant that his opponent was about to spring a trap.

The Huntsman didn't try to push him away like before, or pull back and take another clumsy swing. He _twisted_ his weapon, using his oddly shaped handle almost like a corkscrew to reverse his double sword's orientation in an eyeblink, and thrust it forward to catch Sasuke's Kusanagi straight in the gap between the non-identical twin blades.

In a split-second the tables had turned. The odd design of his foe's weapon now had a very clear purpose- disarming.

Sasuke was unable to effectively move his sword while it was trapped unless he pulled it back; something the Huntsman was not going to allow. The radically curved and warped hilt was not very effective at putting raw force into a strike, something that it's wielder knew and had bulked up his physical strength to partially compensate for. But with two hands gripping the spiral-shaped handle and twisting instead of swinging, the weapon could generate torque like no other. More than enough to either rip any melee weapon from even the strongest of grips or swing the person still holding on to the weapon off their footing.

It would have been an easy trap to escape; the Uchiha was more than quick enough to draw his sword back out of its confinement before the Huntsman could do anything.

His situation would have been simple- if it weren't for the gun barrel of the shorter blade pointing straight between his eyes.

Anyone else would have panicked; coherent thought replaced with mindless instinct for a millisecond before the bullet hit its target from literally point-blank range. For Sasuke, thinking at inhuman speed on his feet and under stress was as simple as breathing so long as Itachi wasn't part of the equation. Before the Huntsman's finger had finished pulling the trigger Sasuke had already reassessed his situation and had a plan to jump out of the trap he had just fallen into and re-take the initiative.

The first step was obvious- jerking his head to the side at neck-cracking speed to avoid the inevitable gunshot. The bullet missed by millimeters; so close Sasuke could actually see it spinning as it exited the barrel and grazed a few strands of his hair.

But before the shot had left the gun barrel the Uchiha had already solved the problem of his restrained sword. It was pointless to try and hold onto it, and if he just let it go the Huntsman would no doubt throw it the furthest distance away that he could.

Sasuke chose a third option: he _lightly_ _tossed_ it. Just hard enough to put it completely through his opponent's twin blades but soft enough that it only flew up a few feet.

Released from the trap the Uchiha flew forward, using his other hand to grab to extended arm of his enemy and use it to lift himself off the ground. The Huntsman's eyes began widen in disbelief as he realized that his adversary had both dodged a bullet from less than a foot away and had escaped from his trap in almost less time than it took to blink.

And unlike the Uchiha, the Huntsman was not capable of coming up with rational or planned countermoves in fractions of a second. And so he could only stare in continued incredulity as Sasuke used his hold of the Huntsman's arm to rotate his body around and land a roundhouse kick square on his right jaw. Muscles and tendons anchoring the head screamed in agony as they were snapped far beyond their comfortable elasticity, but were just tough enough to keep the neck from breaking.

The hit was still enough to disorient him for a moment, and that was all the Uchiha needed. He followed through with his momentum from the kick to swing his legs directly behind him and parallel to the ground, positioning his body like a horizontal plank. His hands flew to his opponent's sword grip, tightly grasping his enemy's own hands and digging his thumbs into the palms.

The Huntsman's hands were then pried apart with the efficiency of a starfish opening a clam, his weapon now dangling by mere fingers.

It was now Sasuke's turn to disarm his opponent. Crunching his abdomen, he drew his legs into his chest as tightly as they would go, winding his entire body up like a spring. Using his arms to raise his lower torso, he took aim, and slammed both feet into his adversary's face with a stationary drop-kick that put a Kangaroo's to shame.

The Uchiha needed to end the fight, and so he had put as much chakra into augmenting the kick as he could without wasting any.

His opponent did not fly so much as rocket back from the hit as his sword was ripped from his meager grasp. He came impressively close to breaking the sound barrier before smashing through three second-story concrete walls, finally coming out the other side of the abused building after the impacts slowing his speed enough for the Huntsman to start falling to the ground instead of away from it.

The force of the dropkick had forced the Uchiha to fly back too; but unlike his enemy he was ready for it. Righting himself in midair with a backflip he drilled his feet into the asphalt, gripping the pavement with both chakra adhesion and pure muscle. Feet plowed through the blacktop, creating twin trenches as his ankles parted the substance like a ship cutting through water as friction slowed the Uchiha down. Before he had come to a complete stop, Sasuke shot forward like a rocket himself- catching his Kusanagi in mid-air as it fell back to earth after it was momentarily separated from its master.

Moving with velocity that normal humans would perceive only as a blur the Uchiha rounded the building his opponent had all but flown through and positioned himself directly underneath his falling enemy. Weak crackling and faint flashes of green light betrayed the weakened aura of the Huntsman, who was now nothing more than a baby bird falling helplessly into the waiting jaws of a carnivore.

Gripping his sword with both hands the Uchiha thrust upward. The Huntsman's aura weakly sparked to life as small glimmers of light on the area surrounding the sword's tip before it fizzled out completely. With the protective armor gone Kusanagi finally made contact with the soft flesh beneath, slicing through the skin and tissue with effortless ease as the Huntsman cried out in agony.

Like the airship pilot he was fortunate enough that Sasuke was not interested in taking his life. His sword slid through the Huntsman's body completely like a barbaric skewer, but had avoided vital organs and arteries. The man would live even if he would be in a hospital for several days.

Sasuke was just about to lay his defeated adversary on the ground when he felt a small object of some kind hit his lower shoulder from behind with a sharp sting.

' _What the hell?'_

It almost felt like getting hit with a small rock or pebble, but it felt like a slightly sharper object. A bee sting was the most accurate comparison the Uchiha could think of, though this was moderately more painful.

Right as he tossed his enemy down the Uchiha felt three more stings on his lower back, blunter ones this time that gave a burning sensation on the patch of skin that was hit.

He had scarcely finished swiveling himself to face his new opponent when he saw a bullet in midair flying straight toward his leg, accompanied by a handful of others that he could tell from their trajectory were thankfully going to miss him.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

'… _They shot me. I was just shot!'_

Sasuke moved Kusanagi swiftly in front of his leg just in time to block the next projectile, ricocheting it harmlessly to the ground. More were coming though, representing a diversity of calibers and muzzle velocities. Several of which even streaked the signature red, yellow, or blue trails of Dust rounds.

At least he now knew that gunfire was not something he needed to be overly concerned about. Small patches of blood around the hit areas meant they were enough to penetrate the skin, but they had not gone any deeper. Superficial wounds at best.

Behind the incoming rounds were the ones that fired them- a group of police that had broken off from the greater force pinning Roman down, no doubt to keep up the pressure on him now that he had won his fight. They had all been aimed low before he had dropped the Huntsman to make sure they didn't accidentally hit him, but now that their ally was out for the count and on the ground they redirected their aim to his upper body.

He ignored the rounds that were not going to hit him and effortlessly maneuvered Kusanagi to flawlessly deflect and block the bullets that were on the mark. Had he been in a healthier state of mind the Uchiha would have made a beeline for any cover that was around, but at that moment he was simply coming to terms with the fact that he had actually been hit.

He had spent the greater part of his life developing his talents and skills with the sole purpose of taking the lives of his foes on the battlefield and conversely preserving his own. And unlike the Hunters here, shinobi did not have the luxury of a personal force field to prevent one-hit kills. _Every_ shinobi, himself included, had spent months of their lives sharpening their senses and reflexes to give themselves the smallest of advantages over their foes that made the difference between going home alive or your corpse being picked apart by vultures.

Sasuke was not naïve enough to believe he was the strongest shinobi around, but he was certainly one of the strongest. He had taken on a thousand Chunin-level shinobi Orochimaru had gathered for him to face and had won without effort and without a scratch.

And these police, these **civilians** , who probably had spent less practice firing their guns _combined_ than Sasuke had practiced throwing kunai, had managed to hit him.

It was _galling_.

Expelling the rage-induced urge to squeeze Kusanagi in a knuckle-whitening tight grip and clench his jaw, he instead focused all of his attention on the group responsible for his humiliation.

Sasuke crossed the distance in a split-second, weaving around the clumsily-aimed shots and shoving his sword straight through the shoulder of an unfortunate officer and knocking another one out with a kick to the temple.

The Uchiha's sense of restraint and mercy had begun to dip to a glass half empty state, and for a few seconds he turned into a living maelstrom of destruction. Appearing in front of one or more targets seemingly from out of nowhere to throw knock-out punches and kicks to mow down the enemy force at a pace that put Neo's to shame. Shouts and screams of pain filled the air as limbs were snapped like twigs and heads and bodies were smashed through car windows. Kusanagi sliced and crippled all in its path, victim after victim forced to pay homage to his sword in their own blood to give it an ever-thicker coat of red.

Ten left, seven left, four left, and then only one.

Right as he knocked out the last officer with the flat of Kusanagi, yet another barrage of sharp stings to his back served as an unwelcome reminder that just because he had defeated the last of this particular group didn't mean he had won.

Had he not been an Uchiha, he would have whirled around with a snarl.

 _Every_ time he overcame one obstacle a new one sprang up to replace it. It was a fitting metaphor for his life, and one that was certainly not appreciated as Sasuke could feel his frustration begin to be replaced with genuine anger.

He had trained to mask his emotions on the battlefield both good and bad, but that didn't mean that beneath his mask the Uchiha was seething with contained fury.

Sasuke turned around, intent on rinsing and repeating his last performance and _ending this._

He hadn't even finished rotating himself when he came face-to-face with yet another bullet mere inches away from his head. There was only the briefest of moments to observe that this one seemed a bit larger than the projectiles he had seen before and was probably fired from a higher-caliber rifle of some kind as opposed to the smaller pistol-shots from earlier.

He had seen it far too late to dodge or block, and it slammed into his forehead with the full intention of drilling straight through his skull.

Sasuke's chakra-reinforced flesh and bone was thankfully more than enough to stop it. Though that didn't stop his head from recoiling slightly from the impact or from spots making their way to his vision.

Unable to penetrate his skull, the metal slug instead lodged itself in the surrounding skin like a dart on a board. Local pain receptors wasted no time in sending their messages of tissue damage and destruction to the brain.

Sasuke felt the pain, and _snapped_.

His vision, fueled by a thirst for vengeance and victory, returned with a clarity and focus that evaporated any distractions or misdirections.

Dust rounds and larger caliber shots were the priority to block. If there were any of the aforementioned bullets to counter, the smaller-sized projectiles were ignored. The stings, and the biting pain of the smaller hits on his torso, legs, and arms were ignored. None of that would matter if he defeated his enemies quickly.

His brain, having just recovered from the fact that someone had just tried to put a hole through it, bypassed it's go-to solutions of Kusanagi, shuriken, and kunai to defeat the foes in front of him. Instead, it processed what the quickest and easiest way to bring them to their knees.

The remaining police force was still at least four dozen strong- enough to lay down suppressive fire on himself and Roman, even if it was a bit stretched now. And almost completely masked by the blasts of gunfire, several more police sirens in the distance meant that the backup that had been called earlier was less than a minute away.

Time now more of an adversary than ever, the Uchiha finished his thinking.

He leapt back toward several of his defeated opponents, deflecting several more shots before spinning Kusanagi around and placing it back in its sheathe and dove headfirst into the pavement, his now free hands grasping two pistols from their unconscious owners.

As he secured his hands on the guns' grip and summersaulted into a firing position, Sasuke's mental state went through yet another shift. In a fraction of a second, his rage almost completely evaporated and replaced with elation.

He was **powerful**.

It was the same sensation he had when he used Kirin: one shot, one kill. No exceptions.

He knew how firearms worked and their basic principle. He had read and now seen how effective they were in a straight battle when stealth went out the window. But for Sasuke they had seemed so… uncivilized. Random, clumsy. More than half of the shots fired at him earlier didn't even need to be dodged or blocked due to missing entirely. Having the chances of a hit from a gun be identical to the odds of a coinflip did not do much to raise the Uchiha's impression of them.

That had changed. Reading about their capabilities was one thing, but it had failed to accurately impress on him what guns could do in competent hands. Sasuke could hit a kunai in mid-air with his own on pure instinct with no effort at all. The idea that he would miss half of his targets from any ranged weapon was about as likely as Kakashi burning his Icha Icha books.

Bullets fired by Sasuke Uchiha, Sharingan or no, were going to hit their target down to the smallest observable fraction of an inch whether it was five inches or five hundred yards away.

 **Every. Single. Time.**

The battle was over.

Sharp, individual blasts of sound were replaced for a single second by gunshots fired so closely together they more accurately resembled a chain saw. Bullets were put into the air at machine-gun pace, the last of which left the barrel before the eighth shot had finished wedging itself in between the wrist bones of its target.

The Uchiha fired twenty bullets, and twenty of his enemies were hit. Projectiles shot through hands and burrowed through Achilles Tendons and knees without mercy. With almost perfect synchrony all of the victims let out cries and screams of agony and pain like a choir that had been forced to perform while standing on a floor of nails.

Sasuke took advantage of the sudden loss of almost half of the opposing force to do a quick backflip to land next to yet another set of his previous victims and replace his now empty pistols. This time, however, the Uchiha took a position behind a police car to give himself some cover. He had no desire to remain in the open and take more hits.

Luckily the remaining Police retreated from their previous positions. Now that they were facing fire from two sides from Sasuke and Roman respectively, the only place that offered some protection from both were the handful of spots between the parked patrol cars that had at least part of a vehicle between them and their attackers.

It was the moment they had been waiting for.

"Roman, get everyone out of there!"

The aforementioned man popped his head out from behind the truck he was using as cover at the Uchiha's call, quickly observing that the small army of cops that had pinned him in not a minute before were now the ones boxed in with no safe way to counterattack.

"You heard the kid!" Roman boomed to the surrounding men, "Get in the trucks and get out!"

Breaking his attention away from the thief and his men who were now scrambling to load into any trucks that had been lucky enough to not have any tires punctured by missed shots, Sasuke turned to the one other member of their party that still needed some breathing room.

Neo and her Huntsman were almost evenly matched- the slightly higher breathing rate and slowly waning speed of the Huntsman being the only obvious indicator that Neo had a slight edge. She was still handling herself well, flipping and twisting around incoming attacks and responding with her own with fluid ease, and would probably be able to take him out in a few minutes by herself.

But they didn't have minutes. Neo might be pissed at him for interfering in a fight that from the eager grin she was wearing she was greatly enjoying, but the girl was going to have to just deal with it.

He lined a pistol up, and fired a single shot into a hexagonal compartment that lined the handle of the enemy Huntsman's sword. Pretty much all Hunters carried Dust rounds for their weapon to fire or use in one manner or another from what he had read, and the instant explosion that blew apart half of the sword in a burst of red flame and encased the other half in a collage of rock and ice meant that he had guessed the location of that particular weapon's Dust chamber correctly.

The Huntsman was thrown back with a pained cry as the blast lifted him off his feet, a red pyre searing through what was left of his aura and charring the cloth and skin alike underneath it.

Her opened umbrella had protected Neo from the tongues of flame that had engulfed the now defeated Huntsman, gracefully parting the flaring pyre from the blast. Mismatching eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected and unintended defeat of her opponent before quickly rounding on the one responsible for ruining her fun with a furious glare that could have easily been worn by a pissed-off frat boy who had just been cock-blocked.

"I don't care if you're mad," Sasuke stated coldly, nodding his head toward the rapidly-approaching police reinforcements and placing his two stolen pistols in his jacket pocket, "we're leaving."

Hesitating for only a moment to close her umbrella and give him a pointed huff of disappointment, Neo quickly followed his lead and began making a beeline for Roman's truck. Even from their distance both Neo and the Uchiha could make out Roman shouting wildly at the driver to presumably go faster, an order that was followed without hesitation even as the Dust-laden vehicle rounded the entrance at such speed it began to tilt. They both knew the truck wouldn't stop for them to get on, but with their superhuman abilities Neo nor Sasuke really cared and both landed squarely on the top of the truck with a single well-timed jump.

A smaller size and lack of ability to stick herself to objects meant that Neo did not have a graceful landing, and would have slid off the truck entirely if the Uchiha hadn't caught her wrist and pulled her back.

She turned around to face him, giving a small nod of thanks before her gaze was averted to something behind him. She ducked underneath his arm and opened her umbrella to cover his back just in time to block a bullet that would have hit him near the base of his neck.

The Uchiha spun around and zeroed in on the source- the convoy of reinforcements that had finally arrived and was now pursuing the escaping Dust thieves, firing off inaccurate shots to try and hit their tires in a desperate attempt to stop and catch at least some of the perpetrators.

Sasuke was having none of that. If the Police wouldn't give up by themselves, he was going to have to make them.

He drew one of his stolen pistols, and proceeded to show the cops firing pitifully clumsy shots how shooting out tires was supposed to be done.

There was no shortage of drivers who didn't quite brake in time to avoid rear-ending the now disabled cars in front of them, and in an almost comedic display the entire convoy was squashed together in a mess of fender benders. Sasuke specifically aimed for the cars at the front and rear of the police convoy to effectively trapped the remaining ones, forcing their occupants to glare in contempt at their prey who had escaped their trap.

Averting his gaze from their defeated pursuers, the Uchiha gave Neo's wrist a slight squeeze from the hold they still had on each other to pull her to her feet. "Thanks for the block."

Neo turned around to face him, indifferent to the passing air whipping her air around her head and intermittently blocking her view. She didn't give him a self-satisfied smirk for giving him help, nor did she resume her angry glare from ending her previous fight prematurely like he had expected. It was a different look than she had given him before; not sizing him up for a spar or the not-so-inconspicuous glancing she did when she was curious how he would respond to unusual situations such as with Boa at the strip club.

It was a simple and genuine smile. Nothing more. Her smaller hand squeezed his wrist slightly in a more amiable grip before she abruptly pulled her hand back to clasp his palm in what he vaguely recognized as a 'bro shake'.

His partner in crime in all but name gave a small nod that he did not need sign language to translate.

'Anytime.'

Giving a trademark 'hn' in response, the Uchiha used his grip on her hand to wordlessly lift her into the air and dangle her over the edge of the truck. Neo continued smiling, completely unconcerned that Sasuke had neither warned nor explained to her why it appeared he was about to drop her from a moving car.

But Neo knew he was not going to drop her. She didn't need to know what he was doing to trust him.

It was only when she felt her dangling feet touch the smooth glass of the truck's side window that Neo realized he was trying to get her into the car. One of the henchmen they had hired hastily rolled down the window, grabbing her legs and non-too elegantly pulling her inside.

Neo and the hired grunt immediately turned around and extended their hands through the open window, ready to do the same to the Uchiha, only to find their efforts were unnecessary. He pulled himself through the narrow opening feet-first with all the lithe of a panther, curiously not seeming to need to grab any hand-hold on the outside of the truck to keep himself from falling.

Neo quickly got up as far as the ceiling would allow, gesturing to her now empty seat. The Uchiha gave an appreciative nod, ignoring the curious looks he was getting from everyone who was still trying to figure out how it looked like he had for a moment stuck himself to the side of the truck like a fly on a wall before taking a well-earned seat.

A split-second later his eyes widened in surprise as Neo gave a mischievous grin; performing an abrupt about-face and claiming her own seat squarely on his lap. The Uchiha had to make a conscious effort to not reflexively tense up as the heterochrome woman laid her head on his shoulder, a feat made more difficult when he felt her ass give a small but deliberate wiggle as she made herself comfortable. He had thought she would have a bone to pick with him after he cut her fight short, but it seemed that getting everyone out of the ambush and avoiding arrest was a good enough reason to forgive him.

"Nice work out there, Sasuke!" praised one of the many henchmen whose names he hadn't bothered to learn, "We might have bit it out there if it wasn't for you!"

"MVP of the night!"

"Saved our asses out there, man!"

Naruto would have eaten up the attention like a starving wolf and used talk-no-jutsu to persuade everyone in the truck to give up their evil ways if he had been in Sasuke's shoes. But Sasuke was not Naruto, and as such between the heartfelt praise and appreciative but awkward shoulder pats he wanted nothing more than to just go home and try and remove the pieces of metal embedded in his body.

"And the victorious heroes ride off into the night!" the bowler-hat wearing thief in the passenger's seat triumphantly interjected, prompting a few more cheers from the men who had narrowly escaped capture. "Well not heroes," he amended, "but you get the idea."

"Where are we going now?" Sasuke asked as he removed his ski mask, mentally breathing a sigh of relief as the stray strands and fibers were no longer tickling his nose or ears.

"Well seeing as we just cheated the law, my first suggestion would be the Red Mare."

Sasuke gave the man a glare that could have melted concrete. Both of his neighbors shifted as far away from him as their cramped spacing would allow.

"Holy shit kid," the thief recoiled in apprehension, "I'm not being serious! Even if you do desperately need to enjoy a woman's company…"

Sasuke was not amused, his glare transforming into a threatening scowl.

"If you must know, we're going to one of our safehouses," Roman pandered, trying to cool down the simmering Uchiha. "The cops have no doubt called for more units to try and track us, so we need to get off the grid and bury the fruits of our labor."

"Although," the thief pondered, taking a draw from his cigar, "you did take out what looked like half the Vale Police force back there."

"Ooof! Oh, and you too, Neo" a sudden jolt to the back of his seat from said woman prompting the crime boss to acknowledge her contribution.

"So," he continued, "we might have a bit less heat to worry about while they lick their wounds. Which is good news for us; we had to split before we finished loading the Dust, so we're gonna have to work double-time to make up for the loss."

Which meant more opportunities to be caught or identified. Sasuke was confident none of his opponents had seen his face, but they had seen him fight. And that might be enough for the Police to get some kind of lead on him, especially if Mr. Slate or Lavender snitched.

"By the way Sasuke," continued Roman in a more accusatory tone, turning around to face the Uchiha directly. "can you explain to me why you didn't kill anyone back there?"

The tension in the truck instantly tightened. Abdominal muscles of the bystanders unconsciously tensed to silence the noise of air moving in and out of their lungs, not willing to risk antagonizing the tinderbox the surrounding atmosphere had become. Neo rose from her impromptu lounge and glanced between the two apprehensively, covertly reaching for her umbrella in case she needed to intervene. There were several ways the conversation following that question could go, and many of them were unpleasant.

The Uchiha pondered his answer for all of half a second before he formulated his response.

"It would have made more problems for us than it would have solved" he calmly but firmly asserted, not breaking his gaze with his employer. "Neo and I could have handled the Police Officers all on our own with no problems, but the two Huntsmen they brought were almost enough to tilt the odds in their favor."

Not _really_ ; the Uchiha had still had plenty of stamina and power to spare after he had finished his fight even with his self-imposed handicaps, but it would have nullified his point.

"If we had just massacred everyone, we would have to face ten Hunters next time; maybe more. And they would be ready to kill instead of capture."

"I don't remember hiring you to think, kid!" snapped Roman, "That's a real pretty excuse you're painting, but those cops are gonna go to the hospital, get their casts signed by all their little friends and have their adorable kids give them cheap get-well cards, and then jump right back on us when they get out!"

Roman's face was rapidly becoming flushed to an angry red hue, taking another breath to continue his tirade. "And why the fuck did you take that fucking snitch up there with you to the roof if you weren't going to do anything to him! When you knocked him out and took him with you, I had just assumed you were going to do _something_ with him. But I didn't see him come down, so you just fucking left him up there! Sasuke, did it cross your _brilliant_ mind that if the cops see us catch but not kill any moles we find, they will just, oh, I don't know, **send another!?** "

The Uchiha's mind remained calm under the verbal assault, his thoughts clear and unfettered. The truth was using the snitch as a hostage to dissuade attacks while he and Neo picked apart the opposing forces would have been a good idea, but he had more than his fair share of standing by and watching people being sacrificed for a 'greater purpose'. He knew none of Orochimaru's victims, nor did he have any great care for them. But that hadn't stopped his heart from tightening in suppressed rage when he saw the abuse and the callous view that people's lives were nothing more than expendable objects to toss away if it meant personal gain for the Snake Sannin. He had been forced to bow his head for three long years, and was not in the mood to do it again. Especially not from a bottom-feeder like Roman.

"I was hired to be muscle" Sasuke countered, his steely tone pausing the thief's rebuke. "Choosing who to trust and doing background checks to keep unwelcome eavesdroppers from our ranks in the first place is _someone else's_ job."

It was a bit reckless of him to not-subtly put blame on his employer, especially with the company present, but deflection was going to be his best option here.

"I'm sorry, I must have misheard you" the crime lord hissed in a deceptively calm voice, his hand gripping his cane with restrained anger, _"Would you care to repeat that?"_

"Perhaps you did mishear me, Roman. I'll indulge you and repeat what I told you the night we met" the Uchiha replied as his onyx eyes fearlessly stared into their dark-green counterparts. **"No murder.** I am not crossing that line. You agreed to it at the time, but if you've changed your mind since then feel free to hire someone else."

Roman's scowl intensified; if looks could kill the Uchiha would have been set on fire before being drawn and quartered with his remains buried in wet cement.

"And before you make baseless claims about loyalty," Sasuke continued, intent on gaining the metaphorical high ground, "you should consider that I didn't have to save any of you back there."

The crime lord clenched his jaw in fury but somehow managed to hold his tongue. Despite his anger the Uchiha's point was a solid one.

"I could have just jumped across the barricade from the roof and left you to deal with the Police yourself. The only reason any of you escaped back there was because I decided not to."

Roman had been in the razor's edge of lashing out at the pretentious teen, but the brat made a point that reminded him that Sasuke was still more useful to him alive than dead. The brat was a pain in the ass, and under normal circumstances Torchwick would have put a bullet through his brain for his attitude. However, he had bigger problems.

Cinder and her two lackeys had left Vale several days ago without warning, having only given him a vague excuse that she had a meeting of some kind she couldn't miss. The timing was suspicious- they had agreed to ramp up their Dust robberies soon, even potentially enlisting the White Fang as an unorthodox ally and extra supply of manpower. Choosing to leave the continent right when they're operation was scheduled to escalate made no sense whatsoever. The fact that he had been given no prior warning about her departure nor an estimate for when she would be back only served to set off more alarm bells.

As icing on the cake he had noticed that Cinder seemed… off her game for the past few weeks. She hid it well, but Roman could still make out the subtle signs of creeping anxiety and uncertainty. She was tense, wound up like a spring, not reacting to bad news or possible hurdles to their plans with her usual confidence. She perked her head up a little too quickly when someone approached them with unexpected information, and no longer carried herself with the same coolness of one who was in undisputed control.

Something had happened, something that _scared_ her. And whatever could make **her** feel fear was not something he wanted to trifle with.

Regardless of the reason, it would be better for him to have more than just Neo in his corner if whatever was eating Cinder turned hot or if she decided for whatever reason that he would be more useful to her on the wrong side of the grass.

Roman leaned forward so close to Sasuke their noses were almost touching, boring his eyes into his unruly subordinate. "You're gonna have to drop that conviction of yours sooner or later, kid" the thief whispered almost inaudibly, "This is the big leagues, and you're in too deep to back out. Using kid gloves is going to get you in a lot of trouble one day."

The Uchiha was painfully aware of that- the dozen-odd opportunities he had passed up to kill Deidara being the only reason he was stuck in this chakra-less realm to begin with.

"Don't say I didn't warn you" Roman finished, returning his gaze to the dimly-lit road in front of them.

The confrontation over, the small woman still on his lap release her tension and relaxed the grip on her weapon. Mismatched eyes met his and gave an unmistakable look of concern- something he never thought she would grant him. He still wasn't sure exactly where she would place her chips if the tensions between himself and Roman boiled, but he still considered it a positive that at the very least she seemed genuinely distressed that he and the thief were starting to develop friction.

Thankfully no-one had to live with the now-tense atmosphere for long, the driver pulling into an abandoned warehouse moments later with the rest of their escaped comrades in tow. Roman wasted no time barking out orders to unload the Dust they had managed to steal, adding it to the colossal stack of containers that already filled almost half of the building's volume.

It was only then that the Uchiha had the presence of mind to ask a rather important question. "Roman, are we missing anyone?"

Raising an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic query, Roman took a quick headcount before answering, "No, everyone's here. Well, everyone except the rat. Why?"

"In case one of us was captured."

"…What do you mean?" puzzled the thief, "Why would you care?"

"We were ambushed not half an hour ago because of a spy," the Uchiha explained, "I don't want to repeat the experience if they manage to capture one of us with loose lips."

"Tch, you worry too much. Even if they caught one of us, Cops can't play hardball to get us talking. Violation of human rights, and all that civilized crap. And even if it did happen, what exactly would you do about it? Go downtown and bust them out?" joked the crime lord.

Sasuke didn't deign to give him an answer. In truth, he probably would have to try. He didn't care for them personally, but some of them had seen his face and even knew about his positions at Junior's and Slate's. It would be risky venture to steal them back from police custody, but it was an even greater risk to do nothing and just keep his fingers crossed that things would go his way.

Not that he was going to tell Roman that. He didn't need the thief to have any more leverage on him than he did already, and he was already mushy enough in Roman's book with his aversion to lethal force. The crime lord wouldn't hesitate to cut him loose if he thought Sasuke was much softer.

"Hey Sasuke," the henchman who had been his neighbor in the ride over interrupted almost meekly, what's that on your head?"

"What?"

"That metal thing on the side of your forehead. Kinda looks like a bad piercing."

Sasuke Uchiha did _not_ get piercings. He lifted his hand to the spot on his forehead the henchman had pointed to, and sure enough, his fingers felt the cool touch of a small piece of metal along with the familiar sticky crust of dried blood. He pinched the object, pulling it out with a small pop and dropping it in his palm.

' _Oh yeah, I forgot about that.'_

Roman squinted his eyes at the item with a perplexed look, as though he was trying to decide what he was seeing was actually real. "Kid, is that… is that what I think it is?"

It was the bullet that had hit him in the head from earlier. It had lost it's smooth, streamlined contours that it had been manufactured with as the metal had been forced to crumple in on itself into a small mushroom shape when Sasuke's chakra-reinforced skin and bone would allow it to penetrate no further.

"…How?" questioned Roman, his face looking as confused as if he had just seen a man devour his own head. "I thought you didn't have aura, so why does your head not have a hole in it?"

"My aura isn't fully mature," the Uchiha smoothly lied, "it doesn't show up on scanners and can't completely block attacks, but it's enough to give me some protection."

"Well, _that's_ something I've never heard of. Still, it kinda freaks me out. It almost looks like you're a Terminator robot picking out a bullet from its skin."

"A what?"

"A Terminator robot" a random henchman interjected, "you know, from the movie? Machines in the future take over and send a robot disguised in human skin back… in… time…"

The henchman petered off his description at the blank stare Sasuke was giving him.

"Kid, you need to get out more often" stated the crime lord for what felt like the hundredth time, looking at Sasuke with an accusatory glare as though he had dropped a holy artifact into a sewer. "Never seen Terminator," he mumbled under his breath, "Un. Fucking. Believable."

Cool night air rushing onto his lower back and the sudden sound of shifting clothing alerted the Uchiha that someone had lifted his jacket and shirt off his lower back to expose his bare skin. He shot his arm out, finding and lowering the offending arm of none other than Neo.

Her inquisitive gaze took on a more miffed appearance at his reflexive defense.

'Let me look.'

"It's fi-" the diminutive woman was not taking no for an answer though, and before the Uchiha could escape her reach or block her arm she lifted the back of his jacket again. Annoyance transformed to surprise, her eyes widening and mouth falling open slightly at the sight of more embedded bullets just like the one on his head.

"Holy shit Sasuke, how many hits did you take?" questioned a random henchman.

Before he could answer the Uchiha felt Neo drop his jacket and roughly grabbing his wrist. He couldn't so much as say a word before she began pulling him toward the door.

'We're leaving,' she signaled, brushing past the henchmen in her way.

"Right now?" Roman asked with incredulity and a small bit of irritation.

'Yes.'

"Tch, fine." The thief replied, the heterochrome woman's un-paused march to the door a clear display she was not going to be dissuaded.

With Roman turning back to barking orders to unload the stolen Dust, the Uchiha was left with nothing better to do than follow her lead out the door. It would have been easy to stop her, to plant his feet and refuse to move with all the stubbornness of a child hell-bent on not stepping foot inside a hospital to get their shots. But he didn't.

The truth was, he had had quite enough conflict for one night. His muscles were sore from his workout and were protesting any quick or strenuous movement even before he had been called in for tonight's job. The subsequent firefight and bits of metal flying into his flesh likewise failed to do his mood any favors. And to top it off, Roman had one more reason to put Sasuke on his bad side after the Uchiha had been forced, like he had many times already, to sacrifice cold, merciless pragmatism to his psychological need to not follow in Itachi's murderous footsteps. He had had a relatively good excuse today, but Sasuke was not fool enough to believe it would be the last time he and Roman locked horns on the issue.

Compared to that, he was beyond the point of caring if Neo dragged him somewhere. It wasn't worth the effort.

Still, it probably would be a good idea to ask where the small woman who had several psychopathic qualities was taking him before he just let her have her way.

"Where are you taking me?"

Neo halted and turned around, sensing from the Uchiha's tone the underlying suspicion behind his question. She looked him straight in the eye, using her free hand to reply with sign language that reminded him so much of the hand seals that played such a major role in his life.

'To get the bullets out. You can't reach the ones on your back. I'll help you.'

If Sasuke had received that message as a text, there was no way in hell he would have believed her. Neo was a mercenary, a cutthroat who made the company of other killers like herself and often times being the death of each other due to a contract or mere petty rivalry. Trusting her with his _turned back_ of all places, was about as safe as trusting a whore who said she didn't have venereal disease.

"So where are we going for that?"

'… _Why did I say that?'_

While he may not have outright agreed to go with her and deigned to find out where she was planning on taking him, he did not reject her offer. Even as the follow-up question was half-way out of his mouth, Sasuke wondered why he saw fit to take her word for it. He should have asked why she would bother helping him out, but for some reason an unknown part of him was willing to believe her.

'To my place.'

Now that was an answer that could have several different implications, and more than one ending. While there was one possible conclusion that the male portion of his brain wasted no time in realizing, a more suspicious line of thought conjured a scenario where Neo ended the evening by tightened a wire around his throat.

"Fine."

His apprehension remained buried. He was still skeptical of her, but it refused to manifest any further. And it wasn't his organ between his legs that was making that decision for him. Sasuke, like all successful male shinobi, had learned to overpower their carnal desires with reason. No, it was another portion of his psyche he hadn't quite identified that was responsible.

Neo's features perked at the Uchiha's agreement, a small but cheerful smile gracing her face with glee that his anti-social nature had for once not won out. She gave a pointed nod up to the roof of the building next to them, reluctantly releasing her hold on his wrist as she did so.

That was all Sasuke needed to know where they were going. With half of their gaze on the building above them and the other half on each other, they jumped off as one to the rooftops.

At the zenith of his arc, Sasuke came the closest he had since arriving in this alien world to feeling at home. The steel and concrete structures below and around them offered no aesthetic value compared to the natural comfort of the sunlit leaves and sturdy bark of the forests of his homeland, but it was good enough.

The few rides in cars he had had were not as relaxing for him as it was for others. It was easy to sit back and do nothing as you were carried to your destination, but the Uchiha was raised and trained to _run_. To make the journey under the power of his own two legs for hours at a time, to feel the earth, tree branch, or water beneath his feet, and to take in all the sights and possible signs of an ambush with his senses uninhibited by being trapped in a metal and glass box with wheels. He was free up here, bounding between the rooftops with no road or road markings to tell him where he could and couldn't go; his sense of time slowly evaporating as familiar, pleasant memories jostled their way to the front of his mind.

His brain, wandering around the pleasant nostalgia and only making jumps and turns unconsciously, was brought back to reality when his shinobi instincts kicked in. He had made the rookie mistake of not keeping a suspicious companion within his sight. Sasuke had not followed her from behind, but had taken a position side-by-side where he could not see her directly, but could still easily feel her presence and follow her lead to her dwelling with ease. It was no excuse though; Orochimaru and Kakashi would have both chided him for such carelessness.

' _Why do I keep trusti-?"_

Halfway through the mental question, the answer revealed itself to him: she was familiar to him. She was a possible sociopath who was able and willing to kill at the drop of a hat for her own convenience, and possibly betray allies on the spot if it benefitted her. Very dangerous company, but company he was used to. Orochimaru, Kabuto, and others like them he had spent more than desirable amounts of time with in the Land of Sound were hardly any better.

They were dangerous people; bloodthirst carnivores that wouldn't hesitate to cannibalize their own to quench their thirst. But Sasuke knew them. They were recognizable features of his life at this point. The fact that Neo and her ilk were so potentially treacherous, lethal, and unpredictable was, for Sasuke, a good thing.

He had once foolishly believed that he should surround himself with people he trusted absolutely, but Itachi had eviscerated that naïve assumption to ribbons. He knew better now. _Everyone_ , was in it for themselves to one degree or another. And that meant that even the strongest of allies or friends could have the bonds of trust and comradery shattered the minute the partnership turned from an advantage to a liability.

Neo, like Orochimaru and Kabuto, was not going to deceive him with bonds or love to hide the ball like Itachi had. The fact that she was a cutthroat that could betray him if she got something better out of it was in itself a consistency he could predict and adapt to. It was far easier to ensure she got more out of being his ally rather than his enemy than it was to make a nebulous 'bond' of friendship, blood allies, or other ridiculous notion that he had no way to ensure or verify.

And so, moments later when the pair landed on the small balcony of a modest third-story apartment and Neo grabbed his hand as she opened the sliding door, he did not pull away.

Sasuke was incredibly grateful that Neo did not have the stereotypical female apartment with every possible surface covered in small decorations or knick-knacks that were either pink, overly cute, lacey, smothered in natural scents of some kind, or some combination thereof. That being said, she did certainly put a personal flair to her home. The walls and furniture all shared the same pink, brown, and white coloration she never ceased to adorn herself with, and candles with the tell-tale scent of vanilla were strategically scattered throughout the room. If he had to use a single word to describe it, tidy would be it. Fake plants and drink coasters were positioned with perfect symmetry in mind on her table, rugs and furniture meticulously placed at neat angles to each other, and even the dishes she had laid out to dry were arranged from smallest-to-largest. The Uchiha could also gleam from a complete lack of any particulate matter on any observable surface that the woman spent a respectable amount of time dusting and vacuuming.

Still holding his hand, Neo performed a one-handed courtesy before gesturing to her abode with a sweep of her arm, briefly but politely playing the part of a hostess introducing a guest into her home.

But she had brought him here with a purpose, and swiftly led him to her bathroom. Shades of pink and white danced across his sight, the tiles so clean he half-expected to be able to see his reflection.

'Take off your jacket and shirt. I'll be right back.'

The Uchiha complied with her request, looking at his bare torso in her mirror and seeing for the first time the damage he had taken in the firefight. As he had suspected, it wasn't too bad. There were only four bullets embedded on is front, shots he had ignored to deflect larger, more dangerous ones. They poked above the small holes they had made in his skin like small groundhogs peeking above their burrows, small crusts of dried blood surrounding all of the wounds even though the actual bleeding had long since stopped. They wouldn't be difficulty to remove, and even if they weren't the bullets were at so shallow a depth into his flesh that his skin would push them out all on its own as it replaced its dead outer layers with fresh ones from beneath.

Turning around to see his back, he could see a few different results. Two shots on his lower back had seared and burnt skin surrounding the projectile, a small fire-Dust round if he were to guess. But other than the burn to his outer layers of skin, there was no bullet remaining. It was likely the Dust round was transformed fully into it's elemental namesake after it hit, leaving its metal casing to fall harmlessly to the ground after it had hit.

There was a shot to the back of his left shoulder, though, that went much deeper. The flesh surrounding the intrusion was not burnt, but cut so cleanly it almost looked like someone had carved the hole with a miniature cookie cutter. It had penetrated to some depth, a small glimmer of metal barely close enough to the surface for him to see. A wind round, judging from the clean-cut entry wound that could only have been made by a powerful cutting force.

Taking another look over himself the Uchiha could appreciate the protection his chakra provided him compared to aura users now that he had a solid example to work with. While aura was wonderful at blocking attacks before they made any damage, it did have a weakness: it had no in-depth defense capability. It served almost like the armor of a crab or shell of a turtle- excellent at stopping things from getting inside, but once the shield was weakened or penetrated the flesh underneath was completely defenseless. Once a person's aura was weakened or used up, they were as frail as ordinary flesh and bone.

Not so with him. His chakra did not provide a protective armor to prevent hits, instead it strengthened and increased the durability of all his organs and tissues. While that meant that he would take direct hits and subsequent damage from any attack that hit, it also meant that his _entire body_ was reinforced and enhanced, not just his skin or outermost layers. Piercing through his skin didn't mean as much to him as it did an aura-user, his muscles and connective tissues beneath were just as difficulty to break through as his skin.

Sasuke had just finished pondering this realization when Neo returned with a small chair in one hand and a glass of water in the other. She placed the chair behind him; taking a pointed gulp from the glass before offering its contents to her guest. Though the Uchiha had given her the benefit of the doubt by agreeing to come here, Neo still knew him well enough to know that he would be reluctant to eat or drink anything she offered without some kind of gesture that there was no malicious intent.

The Uchiha took two gulps of his own without hesitation from the glass before handing it back to her. He gave no verbal thanks, but the fact that he had taken the water without hesitation told Neo volumes about his current state of mind.

The Uchiha had always been fun to watch, to tease and press his buttons to see his true feelings occasionally peek out from behind the stoic mask he never took off. Challenging him to small little contests never ceased to entertain her even with her no-win record; just seeing him emerge from his self-imposed cocoon of isolation had never been a boring site to behold. And now, he was finally acting like somewhat of an actual person as opposed to the methodical machine he usually was. She just needed to give him another little nudge to get him to crack open his shell for her to take another small peek inside.

'Please sit down.'

He sat, positioning himself so he could face the mirror and watch her. Neo had put the chair in that location with that in mind, not under any illusions that her guest would be under anything less than a trust-but-verify mindset even in the most harmless circumstances.

Neo opened a cabinet on the wall, taking only a moment to remove a small face-cloth, a pair of tweezers, and some kind of antibiotic cream from a small first-aid packet before removing her gloves. The small woman began with the Uchiha's front end, holding the white cloth underneath the sink for a moment to dampen it before gently blotting the nearest wound. After a few moments of clearing the surrounding area of dried blood she delicately held the tweezers in her other hand before lowering it to the injury, dancing the edges of the metal tool around the edge of the bullet as she tried to get a decent grip on the offending object. The surrounding nerves flared with pain, the inflamed and already-hypersensitive tissue protesting the jostling and pushing. Sasuke suppressed his pain, like he did with so many other of his emotions, with practiced ease. Breathing and heart rate remained unchanged as Neo continued digging around his injured flesh; barely expending any effort to keep his jaw unclenched or his hands from curling into tight fists from the pain.

His hostess lost her grip on the bullet more than once, but bit by bit, millimeter by millimeter, it was eventually removed. Dropping the metal fragment to the floor, she once again blotted the site with the damp cloth to clean up any residue she had disturbed before squeezing out a small dab of the antibiotic cream on her finger.

"It will heal on its own now, you don't have to" the Uchiha protested automatically, well aware that Orochimaru's advanced healing factor he was 'borrowing' had a good chance of smoothing over the affected area as good as new before the sun could rise.

Neo paused, her look of intense focus shifting to a small frown as she locked eyes with the Uchiha. For a few moments that felt longer than they were, the two merely stared at each other. Sasuke wondering if perhaps he should have just accepted her help without commentary and been done with it, and Neo a bit disappointed that his natural antisocial tendencies had returned.

Still, she wasn't going to quit now when he had finally cracked open the window to his true self. Just one more little push…

Her frown slowly gave way to a small smile as she slowly leaned forward until their noses were practically touching. Pleasingly, Sasuke did not lean back in a reflexive attempt to keep her out of his personal bubble. Whether he did so because he was comfortable enough with her to allow her to close the distance or because he didn't want to appear nervous, she didn't know. But it didn't matter. The fact that he didn't recoil on instinct was good enough for her.

Neither of them removed their gaze from the other's eyes for an instant. Even so, both of them were aware enough of their surrounding vision to see Neo raise her free hand on their peripheral visions to relay what she wanted.

'I know I don't have to,' she signed, her fingers gracefully twisting their message in the air for Sasuke to see at the edge of his vision. Not a second later he felt a dab of cream, no longer cool to the touch but warmed by the heat of the finger she had held it with, gently being pushed into his wound before being smeared around its edge as the small woman flashed her hand again.

'But I want to.'

And just like that, their stand-off ended. Neo grabbed the cloth again, re-focusing her gaze to the next wound site and beginning to blot it as though nothing had happened. The Uchiha remained seated, his stoic gaze unchanged even as his mind raced. He wasn't sure why he had spoken up now, it was almost like it was a knee-jerk reflex for him to try and deny any contact or assistance he didn't need. Still, there was no reason to deny her help either. She had literally dragged him out of the warehouse to bring him here, after all.

' _Now that I think about it, it was possibly a bit rude for me to just turn my nose up at her efforts if she was the one to offer to help. She volunteered her own time and effort; in her own home of all place-'_

It was at that moment that Sasuke realized just how much of an asshole he had been to her. For all of his inner monologuing about her possibly backstabbing him and having no reason to give her his trust, she had trusted him enough to show him where she lived, where she _slept_. If that wasn't a sign of some trust on her part, he didn't know what was.

"Thank you."

The two words of verbal gratitude he offered were short, and uttered so silently they could almost be a whisper. But Neo heard them, and her face beamed with joy. She was well aware those two words were just as much an apology as they were appreciation from him, and she had known Sasuke long enough to realize he was about as unlikely to do either as she was to stop eating ice cream. Those two words carried far more weight and meaning from him than from anyone else.

Neo paused her work, walking behind her guest before settling her free hand on the base of his neck, taking care to avoid any bullet sites. Lowering herself, she settled her chin on his shoulder, staring straight into the eyes of his reflection in the mirror before them.

'You're welcome'

The woman didn't have a free hand to sign her message to him, choosing instead to form the words with her own mouth and tongue.

They stayed in that position for almost a minute before gradually, almost imperceptibly, Sasuke began to loosen. He was relaxed before, but it had been a state he had put himself in to not appear anxious to his hostess as opposed to actually feeling it. There had been a tension beneath; a coiled spring ready to snap if any of his senses scanning for malicious intent picked something up that he didn't like.

Now his breathing was starting to become more natural and less measured, eyes losing a slight bit of their sharp focus as they and the rest of his senses switched from actively searching his surroundings to passively observing them.

It was the last thing he would have expected himself to say, but the Uchiha could actually say that he was enjoying himself a bit. The warm temperature was combined with just enough humidity to remind him of the climate of his home village; the beating sun and heated breeze tickling his senses from pure nostalgia. Even the scents of vanilla and lavender surrounding him reminded him of the Yamanaka Flower Shop; a place he had never dared to set foot in for fear of an ambush by Ino but had still passed by on occasion.

Neo returned to her position and picked up where she left off, cleaning the wounds, removing the bullet, and dabbing it with the antibiotic. Rinse, wash, repeat.

Every now and then he felt Neo's breath on his shoulder or back, sometimes a stray tip of her hair dangling down and tickling his skin. It was almost odd; an hour ago he would have questioned her motives for breathing so close to him, or wondered if she had let her hair brush him for some ulterior purpose. Now, he just took it as Neo not having a problem sharing personal space.

His shinobi training was still telling him that he was making far too many positive assumptions regarding her motives; she was still a trained killer, and the possibility that she was buttering him up in case Roman decided to 'fire' him. But so far, she had seemed apprehensive about him clashing with their employer if her behavior in the truck was any indicator. And refusing to lower his guard around her for any reason after she had saw fit to reveal her own home to him would only lead her to believe that he considered her as much a potential enemy as Roman. And if she believed that, then she had no reason to take his side if his relationship with the crime lord went south.

And so as she finished with his arms and torso, and tore open holes in his pants to reach the shots he had taken to his legs, he did nothing to dissuade her.

As for Neo, the portion of her brain not focused on the surgical task at hand was busy analyzing the miniscule shreds of psyche of her guest that had been painstakingly revealed. She was naturally curious, and from the day she had met Sasuke he had been a paradoxical enigma that fought tooth and nail to conceal himself.

Part of her drive to learn his true motives was a pragmatic one- he had yet to be made aware of Cinder and her involvement. She was currently away for some unplanned reason, but she or someone else she worked with would be back eventually to make sure Roman cooperated. Hiring Roman for their purposes had not been mutually beneficial; the only thing Roman 'gained' from his obedience was not being killed. Other than that, their Dust robberies were more trouble than they were worth. It didn't help matters that Cinder had not bothered telling Roman why they were stealing Dust, or what their ultimate goal was. **That** was alarming. It stank of either a set-up, or a convenient pawn whose lack of deep intel meant they were expendable.

If she were being honest with herself, she was still pissed at Roman for bringing her into this in the first place. He had hired her on after Cinder had tasked him with stealing Dust, only telling her about the woman after she was in. But the more important point was that if Roman was worthless to Cinder, then she and Sasuke were too. Neo desperately needed to know how he would respond. With the skill and power she had seen him use so far, his answer to that question could potentially tip the balance of power.

But the larger part of her curiosity now was a more personal one. From the moment Sasuke told roman he wouldn't be killing for him; Neo had been utterly perplexed. It made no sense- he had utterly dominated her in their first fight and been humiliatingly toying around with her for their subsequent spars even as her repeated defeats forced her to improve her fighting skills to new heights. Someone that good had to have been trained as nothing short of a killing machine. Not a Huntsman to merely hack away at mindless Grimm, but an assassin capable of ending the lives of dozens of flesh and blood humans as easily as he drew breath.

Just like she was.

The fact that he kept his shell closed as tightly as a clam only served to fuel her desire to find out what he was hiding inside. The best way to ensure people wanted to see something, after all, was to tell them they shouldn't see it. But gradually, after forcing him out of his stoic, stand-alone-in-the-background comfort zone a few times, she was starting to get a vague silhouette of his persona.

In spite of the cool, unflappable image he presented, he was a man of action. He was like a cat stalking its prey; hidden, silent, until it was time to take what he wanted with explosive force. He had not hesitated for a moment to beat her to the edge of unconsciousness at their first meeting, nor to waste time with introductions or speeches that Roman was so fond of, and he had not paused for a moment to send what was probably a good quarter or third of the Vale Police Force to the hospital when they got in his way. She did not know his motives, or ultimate goal. But Neo knew that when Sasuke Uchiha set himself to a task he did not half-ass it.

' _I wonder what else he's good at when he sets his mind to it…'_ the diminutive woman pondered to herself as she pulled out the last projectile from the Uchiha's calf.

Raising herself, she rested her chin on the Uchiha's shoulder once again, though this time forgoing even more personal space and leaning forward just enough for her chest to brush his back before signing into the mirror, 'All done.'

"Hn."

He was back to the one-syllable responses, but the 'thank you' he had given earlier was enough for her for the whole night anyway. Standing up, she reached for the glass of water again, this time offering it to him first.

Sasuke understood the implication, and drank several mouthfuls before offering it back to Neo. She gave an appreciative nod before taking the glass from him and took several small sips herself, but refusing to consume the final serving and offered the last mouthful to her guest. Neo could make out the small curl of his mouth that while not a smile or smirk, still spoke of a small bit of amusement before he downed the last of the glass's contents.

Neo beamed back, her face taking on a coy appearance as she disregarded cleaning the floor of the removed bullets and instead took the Uchiha's hand in hers once again, taking the extra step of interlacing her fingers with his. A small furrowing of his eyebrows indicated he was catching on to what was happening, but as she expected he was still uncertain as to how to proceed. It was not from lack of experience, the Uchiha had such magnificent looks there was little doubt in Neo's mind that he hadn't taken up at least one good opportunity that had come his way even with his lone wolf nature. That was fine with Neo- she was more than comfortable taking the lead for now. The earlier spectacle of the man in front of her taking control of the firefight and crushing all in his path had been more than enough of a turn-on for her.

Turning around, she began leading him out the bathroom, through the living room, past the deck they had entered, before opening another set of doors to reveal a rather cozy bedroom with a chocolate brown and cream white theme.

Sasuke was no fool- he knew where this was leading, and not for the first time that night his logic and emotions conflicted. His shinobi half had been muffled by the pleasant ambient atmosphere from earlier, but was still screaming as loudly as it could that one of the worst and last mistakes a male shinobi could make was sticking his dick in crazy.

And yet, his body refused to listen. He felt Neo's hand press into and grab his length, slowly stroking it through his pants as she used her other hand to guide his to the buttons of her jacket. Even as his nimble, hand seal weaving hands effortlessly removed the fastening of her outermost layer without any conscious input, he opened his mouth as his more cautious side finally summoned the willpower to make itself heard.

Or it would have, if Neo hadn't seen it coming and cut him off.

'Let me guess, you're about to say, "You don't have to" again, or something like that.'

Sasuke's words died in his throat. Neo could tell some of his previous tension had returned, but unlike before it was not a result of him anxiously scanning for anything out of place. No, now the tension was from struggling to hold himself back.

At that realization, a switch turned on. Neo's pupils dilated with excitement, skin flushed with anticipation, and a rapidly-growing moist patch appeared between her legs. Sasuke losing control was exactly what she wanted- none of the control or restraint from before; she wanted him _raw._

The heated woman grabbed his remaining hand, and guided it straight to her now gushing nethers. Once again, she chose to form soundless words that were meant only for him.

'My answer is the same as before,' she stated, her eyes taking on a positively hungry appearance as he felt Neo's arousal with his own hand. 'I want to.'

She then gently pushed the Uchiha onto her bed with his back flat and legs hanging over the side. His hand was removed from her groin as Neo retook her position on his lap, slowly starting to grind herself on his growing bulge. He was far from passive himself, his hand having completed its task or removing her jacket buttons now removing the obstructive clothing before brushing up against her necklaces and none-too gently squeezing her breast.

'And I know you want it, too.'

He did want it. He hadn't been laid since before he arrived, and between the stress of creating a seal, working his three jobs, keeping his identity as much of a secret as he reasonably could, and the adrenaline-pumping fight earlier, he was pent up. He was supposed to be a Shinobi, a heartless killing machine that slaughtered the enemies of his home without compassion, hesitation, or emotion.

Sasuke was not that ideal tool. If he had been, he would have stayed in Konoha like he was told and not let his burning desire for vengeance control his decisions.

Right now, Sasuke had the very common male desire for the female flesh; and it silenced any objections his mind had left. He reached his hand beneath the fabric of Neo's pants to roughly grope the smooth flesh of her ass and slowly thrusting his own pelvis up to coincide with her grinding, and began to indulge his human desires once again.

* * *

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Darkness. It was all around her. Not even the smallest pinprick of starlight anywhere could be seen. She should feel safe here- if she could see nothing, then nothing could see her.

But she was not safe. She knew better. The monster that hunted her knew where she was; even if the echoing footsteps she was making had been completely silenced, he would find her. He always did.

Perhaps he could hear her heart beating out of her chest as she attempted to flee; to run anywhere else- if she stayed where she was, he would catch her. Or maybe he could track her scent, following it's wafting trail as easily as a shark tracked the smallest quantities of blood in the ocean to find its hapless prey and rip it to pieces. Or maybe he just always knew where she was- he could see her body, her very soul from across the horizon, and the fact that she had eluded him this long was only because he had _let_ her run this long. Maybe he was just amusing himself by toying with her fear, letting her believe she could maybe, just maybe, be free of him- but plucking her out of her futile escape attempt like a rat being pulled from it's tail, looking down and only realizing after it was caught that it was in an inescapable maze the entire time.

No! She couldn't think about that! If there was even the smallest chance of escape, she had to try!

She kept running. She did not look back; there was no point. If she could see him behind her it was too late. She just kept running, as fast as she could, in the emptiness of the void.

Suddenly- a glimmer! A tiny point of light directly in front of her- she had made it! It wasn't far away, just a few more seconds and then she would be-

Abject fear took hold of her as an unseen force brought her to her knees in an instant. The weight, the gravity, the _power_ holding her down- he had found her.

"NO! NO! NOOOO!" tears flowed down her face as she screamed, she was so close! She floundered, every attempt to stand on her feet doomed to fail as the grip of the presence around her forced her **down.**

She forced her exhausted body to crawl, aching muscles unable to move her at any kind of speed to escape the Demon she knew was coming. She could still make it- the light was almost within her reach. She didn't know what the light was or how it would help, but she knew that if she reached it, she would be safe!

Her faint optimism was crushed once again as the surface beneath her shifted; no longer a nebulous but still solid footing for her, but now a thick, cold, viscous fluid that seeped its grimy contents directly through her skin like a foul oil. Her arms and legs sank, the heavy force still pulling her down without mercy into the filthy sludge.

NO! GOD DAMMIT N-!" her desperate screams of agony and despair were silenced, drowned out by the muck filling her mouth as she sank. It coated every possible surface in her mouth and on her body it could- spreading like a virus to every inch of her body it could to infest her with its sticky, oily touch. Arms and legs flailed wildly in a panic, concerted effort giving way to the animalistic instinct to mindlessly struggle, to spend every bit of energy she could in what might be her last moments in some kind of attempt to free herself. But the sludge would not allow her to go free. It was a part of the monster just as the pressure forcing her down and squeezing her lungs was. It would not let her go.

Slowly, somehow, against all odds, her body was inched forward, the sticky fluid fighting her for every inch as she attempted to claw her way to the light that was now only inches away with nothing but pure desperation and raw instinct to live.

But her mouth, oh God, her mouth! The sludge was _slithering_ down her throat- coating her lungs and entering her stomach as it invaded every part of her being. Tears streamed from her eyes before being absorbed by the black sludge as she could feel the disgusting fluid form _hands_ around her legs to pull her back… back to him.

Her screams of agony at the sensation of the foul matter forcing itself into every orifice it could find were silenced as she was forced to cough and sputter the slime from her lungs to avoid choking. Her ass, her vagina, her ears, mouth, nose, _nothing_ was spared as the slime raped and violated every part of her it touched.

And yet- she was almost there! Just another inch, and this would all be behind her- a horrifying memory she would repress as well as she could after her escape. She raised her arm to the light- ignoring her limb's numbing exhaustion from pushing far past its tolerable limits as the sludge, the force, and the monster all conspired to consume her. She threw all of her remaining energy into her extended arm; one last lunge that would either free her, or fail.

She lunged- her fingertip brushed the light.

"YES! YES!" She was free! She could le-

A pale hand clasped around her wrist in a bone-creaking grip, its owner's wrist disappearing into the black void behind the light. Her eyes widened in abject horror as the light slightly brightened- revealing another hand that held the light in its palm.

Like a deep-sea anglerfish, he had created the light to lure his prey. Amusing himself at her futile endeavor to reach what she thought was safety before she realized she had been deceived into struggling toward her own grave.

The blood drained from her skin before she saw his face- she knew who it was. Flawless pale skin and aristocratic face adorned the Demon, Sasuke Uchiha, in front of her. Even in the pitch-black of the void, his eyes, his empty eyes, somehow seemed twenty shades blacker than their surroundings. A cold, empty blackness that cast a shadow on the darkness itself.

Those pitiless eyes gazed upon her trapped form, neither gloating nor showing a hint of amusement. He never showed any emotion- he probably didn't have any. A demon did not cause agony or misery for personal gain or even for their own amusement- they did it because they that was what they did _._ Because it was what he was- a presence in the world that existed for the sole purpose of causing agony and suffering. The Sun existed to give light and warmth, air existed to breathe, water existed to drink- Sasuke Uchiha was in this world to cause and spread misery, pain, anguish, and torment to every living thing that he laid eyes on.

"Did you think you could escape me?" the Demon's silky voiced questioned, the framing of the words the only indication that he might be feeling some kind of amusement from such a thing.

"Poor thing," he continued, his icy voice penetrating her bones and almost freezing her heart in place, "you should know by now you cannot escape. You cannot leave."

The sludge around her body froze, chilling her body further but allowing her to lift her mouth above the slime. "Please… please…," she whimpered, no longer having the strength or the will to scream or cry in a desperate plea, "just let me go… I just want to go home… I just want to see my friends…"

"You do not have friends," he callously replied. "They left you. They left you when I took you."

Her vision blurred as a flood of tears foiled her vision. Why couldn't she go back!?

"There is nothing left for you to go back to- this is your home now." Her eyes widened in horror. She knew he was going to keep her here, but the ways he said it, like she was where she _belonged_ , made her insides freeze and churn in fear.

"You belong to me" he declared as her blurred vision of him began to shake from her trembling. "I own you. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, I will be inside your mind, your very _soul_."

In a split-second, the sludge surrounding her exploded with movement- twisting her limbs around back and forth, worming its way into the deepest parts of her body. It was not attacking her- it was playing with her like a doll; taking command of every part of her and moving her in whatever way it felt like. For no better reason than it _could._

"And because I am inside of you," continued the Demon, the black pits that were his eyes callously disregarding her agony, "you cannot escape me."

The pressure increased in force ten-fold; she couldn't move a single muscle as the sludge continued to violate her. She couldn't breathe- her lungs were crushed by the pressure, filling with blood from the ruptured organs that she hacked up to her mouth, the coppery fluid mixing with the vile oil of the slime. Her bones were being crushed; cracking and snapping with unimaginable agony even as her muscles and tendons were ripped from their foundations.

"And because you cannot escape me," he concluded, "I will see you tomorrow night."

The pressure intensified, and she was torn apart.

Violet woke up screaming, the last bit of air in her lungs forming an ear-shattering noise before they were emptied, forcing her to choke in a fraction of a breath more air before she heaved up the contents of her stomach on the floor beneath her bed. Just like in her dream, her vision was blurred and trembling. And it was for the same reasons too- tears produced in ludicrous enough quantities to practically form small streams underneath her eyes, and violent tremors racking every muscle in her body.

She jumped out of her bed in a stumble, paying no mind to her hand slipping on the bile she had regurgitated seconds before nor the sharp sting of pain from hitting her head on the corner of her dresser as she clumsily stumbled in desperation for her bedroom light.

With a frenzy brought by total and utter fear Violet reached the light in a blind flurry, nails scratching off the wall's paint as she reached for the switch with the desperation of madness.

Finally, she hit it. Light flooded the room. It was exactly as she had left it before she had retired for the night, not a single object an inch out of place. Still, she twisted her head and neck to and fro at a dizzying pace, her eyes darting in every possible direction. It was foolish to search for him, if he had come for her in her own home her throat would have been slit already.

But she could no longer control her fear that Sasuke was here. Watching her- waiting to strike and disembowel her with the slightest touch.

A burning ache in her lungs brought her out of her search. Focusing every bit off effort on her abdomen to get it to cease its contraction. She wasn't breathing- she needed to breathe! Bit by bit the muscles of her belly released just enough to allow her to take a rushed breath of air, just enough for her to curl herself into a fetal position on the wall and sob into her arms in despair.

She didn't need to look at her skin to know it was an unhealthy shade of white and clammy from a buildup of sweat. She did not need to look in a mirror to know her eyes were bloodshot and glistening with tears.

"Hey Violet," a female voice outside her room laced with concern interrupted, "we heard you scream again, this is the third time toni-"

"GO AWAY!"

It wasn't the first time her neighbors had been woken up by her nightmares, but their sympathy was not well received. Violet knew better now than to believe they would help her when the going got tough. She remembered every detail of her nightmares, and the simple sentence he had spoken to her, "You do not have friends, they left you. They left you when I took you.", was a knife that twisted deep because it was _true_.

When she had first met Sasuke, all of her companions, her 'friends' had abandoned her without a second thought. Even if it had been hopeless, the fact that not one of them even tried to negotiate with him to try and help her… she had never felt so unwanted, so worthless in her entire life. Not even the scum she had to entertain at the Red Mare had cut her that deep; she knew going in that they thought of her as a disposable tool for their entertainment, being abandoned by people whom she thought she could depend on was far worse. Several of her colleagues at the Red Mare had seen her obviously slipping psyche, but she had no faith that any of them would help her. If she could not trust her former friends, she sure as hell couldn't trust her coworkers who regularly did business with Sasuke's boss, or her neighbors, who were probably a few days away from calling a psychologist to try and help her.

She was alone. It hadn't helped that she had quit her job- the chance that Sasuke would come back and she would be forced to share the same room with him was simply too much for her to handle. She had been unable to find another job since, being arrested for possession twice being enough of a reason for most employers to toss her resume. Three weeks later her finances were running low and her stash of cocaine had been completely depleted, adding withdrawal symptoms and possible eviction to her list of problems.

Violet knew it was a metaphor, but as she sat trembling on the floor of her room sobbing uncontrollably with the irrational but real fear that if she opened her eyes the monster that was tearing her life apart would be right in front of her, she could swear she could actually feel the walls closing in.

"No matter where you go, no matter what you do, I will be inside your mind, your very _soul_."

Eyes widened in terror- it took a moment to realize that she had not heard the words with her ears but inside her head, a vivid memory of the nightmare only minutes prior. She would take it as a plus that Sasuke was not actually in her room to say it, but hearing voices in her head was hardly a good sign either.

In a way, she couldn't be rid of him. He _was_ inside her being, a dark shadow that had attached itself to her mind and implanted its DNA into its host like a virus, and would be with her until her dying day. She could not escape him in her life, his reach and influence corroding and rotting everything that had once been solid and steady. She could not escape him in sleep- she saw him every night.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly rose to her feet and stumbled her way toward her phone- the _one_ thing it felt like he had not corrupted. She steadied herself as she scrolled through the contacts, pausing as she reached one number she had avoided thus far. She had done so for good reason- as horrifying as Sasuke was to her, the man whom this contact worked for was a monster himself. She had only occasionally used this contact to acquire high-end substances on special occasions, but she would be asking for more than just a refill of coke this time. The price was going to be much higher- potentially destroying her life every bit as effectively as the Uchiha currently was if the worse rumors were to be believed.

But desperate times called for desperate measures.

She pressed the call button, pleasantly surprised that her call was answered after only two rings.

"Well hello, Violet. A pleasure to hear from your lovely face again, you need a refill of your last purchase?" a smooth male voice on the other end of the line inquired.

"I need to leave the Kingdom of Vale, Shaves."

"Really? Well that's a new one. Did you have a particular destina-?"

"Anywhere. I just- I just need to leave!" she stammered, the stress finally catching up with her attempts to hide her desperation.

"Well with that attitude, how can I refuse?" he responded, his tone taking on a more playful note. "Tell me gorgeous, what is it worth to you?"

It was a loaded question, but the image of Sasuke Uchiha flashing in her mind prompted her to give her answer with no hesitation.

"Anything."

* * *

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 **Lemon Warning**

Neo had crossed her fingers that Sasuke's disguised persona was hiding the same raw, passionate energy he seemed to have in spades whenever the chips were down. She had hoped that it would manifest as something interesting to behold in the bedroom just as it had been in battle.

She was not disappointed.

Mother of the Gods, this was better than anything she could have hoped for!

He was currently pounding her with almost enough force to literally fuck her right through the wall, her hips and legs feeling every powerful thrust as the soft flesh of her rear cushioned her from the force. She was positioned against the wall sideways, her hands pushing against the surface as he held one of her legs vertically into the air with her other dangling down to not quite touch the floor. Her legs were flexible enough to split a bit past a full 180 degrees, and he was exploiting that opening for all it was worth.

Tight coils continued to writhe in her core, even during the release of her orgasms that she had lost count of, the pleasure never died away. It continued building itself up, Sasuke's relentless thrusting and groping always somehow enough to keep her at a high level of pleasure. Her nectar continuing to gush forth to coat his welcome cock with lubricant to plunge into her depths with minimal resistance, the sweet fluid cascading down her leg in tiny rivers as heavily as though she had been caught outside in a rainstorm.

Between the flashes of stars that kept appearing in her vision and the waves of pleasure that rippled from her pussy that was being mercilessly fucked, Neo recalled just how she had gotten into this situation.

Oh, he had started off rather typically- grasping, brushing, and kneading her body to feed their mutual arousal, but then he had gone off-road.

She had lowered herself onto his cock for the first time that night after they had had the brief presence of mind to slip a condom on it, the tight ring of muscles gracing him with immense pleasure in their silken depths as he finally gave her a look of lustful hunger that betrayed his primal urge. Then, she felt _it_. She wasn't sure what he did, but at that moment the nerves in her walls felt twice as sensitive as usual. As he slowly began bouncing her up and down, Neo actually felt his length _grip_ her walls instead of merely sliding back and forth. Her pussy was pulled and pushed, pulled and pushed, over and over at an accelerated pace that showed her no mercy as she began her silent screams of ecstasy. The expanding heat in her belly grew into a wildfire at a breakneck pace she had never experienced from anything, each thrust one step closer to releasing it in a blazing explosion.

She came hard- breathing so rapidly and deeply from getting to her first release that the passing air made an audible rushing sound as it passed through her lips and throat from the sheer friction it was generating. It made her sound almost like a wild animal. God, it was the hottest sound she had ever heard herself make!

Her pussy clenched like a warm, wet vice as she finally achieved her orgasm with a series of tremors racking her body. Her vision almost turning to black as her flower was stimulated to release a waterfall of fluid on the cock that had brought it to the most intense climax of its existence so easily. He had kept thrusting throughout her finale, bringing her back up from her fall even before it was done instead of having to build the coil in her belly from the ground up again. Readjusting her eyes, she stared at him in almost shell-shocked disbelief- how had he done that?

Then she looked at the clock, and realized her entire buildup, orgasm, and her float down had happened in three minutes. Her head shot back to the Uchiha, shock turning to apprehension and a slight bit of fear. He was no-where near done, and if he could pick her apart like that on his first try, what could he do with _more?_

Sasuke's predatory nature revealed itself, a small smirk on his face as he realized Neo's anxiety. He sensed her fear, and from that moment on was in undisputed possession of the initiative.

Again and again, she was brought to the zenith of feminine pleasure. His length pressing every single sensitive button in her depths with uncanny efficiency that made her skin flush so red with excitement it could pass for a sunburn. She was coming undone- her mind and body being dissected in the most rapturous of manners, and she was relishing every moment of it as her partner turned from a woman looking for a good lay into a bitch in heat in her own home.

A tiny sliver of her had been appalled; she had hoped that she would finally be able to one-up him in something; her Olympic-level flexibility making her capable of maneuvers most women could only dream of performing and most men could only dream of experiencing from their partner. She wanted to be the one who was making him lose his mind and wrest his control from him; not the other way around!

The remaining part of her couldn't say 'WHO CARES!?' hard enough. She had gone through a dry spell herself, and this was the best possible way to end it. The Uchiha repositioned her, varying the pace and strength of his thrusts, somehow always managing to find her most sensitive regions in what felt like a heartbeat before maneuvering his cock to hit them in _just_ the right place to make her writhe in utter bliss. She didn't care that she was losing her mind after mere minutes of his efforts, she didn't even care that even with his primal gaze of lust he _still_ somehow pulled off his patented, 'I'm in control and I'm better than you' look. None of that mattered- she just needed him to keep fucking her until she melted into an incoherent puddle.

Finally, after effortlessly switching position to doggy, a quickening of his breath and his pace gave the telltale sign of his own impending climax. The hand on her breast continued to squeeze, his pointer and middle finger pinching the nipple with a sharp pain that brought twice as much pleasure. The strength of his grasp was increased until it was powerful enough to lightly bruise the soft flesh even with her aura protecting it. His other hand leapt from her shoulder, not to pull her hair as she had expected (and hoped), but instead sifted his fingers through her pink and brown hair that had lost it's sleek, groomed luster and was now tangled and clumpy with sweat, to fully grip the back of her skull instead.

And then, he **sprinted** for his homestretch. Neo's view of her room turned into a blur as her head and body were thrashed back and forth from Sasuke's now fanatic thrusts and his iron hold on her. She was amazed the bed wasn't splitting in half with the force he was putting behind each and every lunge as her hair flew about so rapidly small droplets of sweat flew off with enough momentum to sling themselves to the surrounding walls.

He kept squeezing his reigns as he brought himself to his finish. She had no doubt her breast had a paler appearance now from his hand compressing the flesh so much the incoming blood flow was stalled, and her head- oh God! If she hadn't had aura her skull would have been crushed like a styrofoam cup.

Neo was a woman who loved it rough, and her pussy rewarded her lover's efforts with a fresh squirt of her nectar that turned into almost a mist from the sheer speed and tightness of their coitus as she began her ascent into the clouds again. The Uchiha continued plunging himself into and out of her core, hard enough to ensure her climax was a strong enough one to bring her to the brink of blackout and to still keep enough of her adrenaline flowing to prevent her from taking her final step into unconsciousness. As he dug himself to the hilt and beyond and let himself go with his cock's head penetrating deeply enough to rub her cervix, Neo experienced his climax with her senses of sight and hearing completely gone.

That left three muddled senses, and they were still all overwhelmed. The scent of sex permeated the air like a sex-induced smog, smothering her nose with their combined pheromones that kept her sexual arousal at peak levels. So strong was their presence in the air she could swear her tongue could taste them- a small dash of unknown flavor that covered the mass of saliva and sweat that had made its way into her mouth that she had not had the ordinary presence of mind to swallow as they built up.

But it was the sense of touch that had the most to say. She could feel his cock spasm and begin to pulse its contents with so much pressure and force she could feel the condom surge backwards with a discernable snap as it caught the first of his load. It throbbed inside of her, his hands holding her in place with an even tighter orgasm-fueled grip in the primal instinct to ensure she did not move from her position while he fired his load into her at the deepest point possible.

Her walls were squeezing him hard, refusing to allow even the most microscopic of empty space to separate them from their now beloved intruder. Her vagina pulsed, again and again, as it re-tightened its grip enough for her currently orgasming, sensory-overloaded brain to make out and feel every last contour and curve of the cock that had fucked her so well. He continued to pulse, the condom's end beginning to balloon.

Sasuke slowly brought himself back, reversing a few inches before slowly resuming his thrusting at a shallow, more delicate pace that did not batter or pull the walls of its hostess with overwhelming speed and force. Rather, he gently massaged the hypersensitive walls with whatever trick he did to make his cock clutch her flesh instead of simply sliding back and forth, small tugs to and fro as she began coming down from her peak. Her eyes began to form a dark, foggy silhouette and her ears picked up the muffled breaths of her partner.

And then, she fell back into the silent darkness as the small caresses of his cock on her overstimulated pussy halted her fall from her orgasmic high before shooting her back up into a mind-blowing double orgasm. This time, she left the circles of the observable world entirely, the last thing she felt as her perception of the world was erased being the cock that had thrown her above cloud nine continuing to tenderly thrust.

The world came into focus around Neo quickly, her lungs panting to get enough oxygen into her body to meet its sex-induced metabolism rush. Two warm wet trails from the corners of her mouth telling her she had _drooled_ the contents of her mouth during her mental absence. Suddenly, she felt her pussy emptying. Looking underneath her, she saw Sasuke slowly removing himself from her depths, taking care not to pull too tightly and rupture the condom. With a small pop, it was free. He had really let himself go- the tip of the rubber was stretched slightly beyond its intended dimensions from the volume if its contents. He wordlessly tied it and threw it in the nearest trash bin.

Neo laid her head back on the bed as she recuperated herself from the experience, not caring that every inch of bed beneath her was flooded with her saliva, sweat, or feminine fluids as her partner fumbled around with something behind her.

Suddenly, without warning, strong arms threw her on her back. Startled eyes focused on her partner, looming over her like a giant. Raven locks framed his face as his onyx orbs focused on her with an intensity she had never seen from him. It was a sight she knew right then and there she would remember for the rest of her life.

This was the Sasuke she had wanted to see from almost the first day they had met- not the passive wall-leaner he showed to the rest of the world. No; _this_ Sasuke had a goal in mind that he would not be denied.

With equal parts disbelief, fear, and body-trembling _craving_ , she saw the Uchiha was still hard and ready for more. He was in her bedroom with her because fucking her, _taking_ her, was his sole objective in this moment.

He did not ask if she was ready or if she wanted another round- he didn't _care_ if she had any objections. His gaze continued to burn her, daring her to protest as he slid back into her.

Creamy legs wrapping around his torso locking him in place was her answer. Smirking in triumph, the Uchiha dug into her core as he began to fuck her again.

And he had not stopped since. His second load of the night had not slowed him down in the slightest even as her body became numb from the overwhelming cascade of endorphins he forced her to release as he played her body as easily as a master musician played their instrument.

It was downright terrifying how easily he controlled her here. Every thought that went through her head, every muscle twitch, every gasp of breath as her senses were overloaded with sharp pangs of bliss, every mind-breaking orgasm that brought her to reality's boundary, was because of him.

Her body was being violated and assaulted, her mind was being picked apart, and her soul was being dominated. And she loved every second of it.

' _There, right there! FASTER!'_

She vaguely felt him pick up his pace again, her senses dulled from being so highly overdosed still able to pick up her lover's change in momentum that divulged his release was upon him.

Neo could not do much at this point except scream and chant in her own head for him to finish inside her- begging he would do as much since she had long since lost any say in the matter. Her muscles had long since over-exerted themselves, unable to keep up with the Uchiha's brutal pace. Any of her limbs not held up by the Uchiha weakly dangled from her body, swinging limply with the timing of his thrusts being the only motion they were now capable of.

The world around her began to disappear as she was brought to what had to be cloud fourteen or fifteen, familiar enough with the sensation by now to prepare for loss of consciousness.

" **No!"**

With an assertive command, Sasuke pulled the leg he held above her further back, straining even Neo's ridiculous flexibility to the point her tendons started to burn. It was enough- just enough, to keep her barely anchored to the real world.

"No more blacking out," he demanded.

Even at the brink of his climax, the Uchiha still retained enough control to quash any trembling or inflections in his voice. The slightly elevated volume and more labored breathing the only things that betrayed his coming storm.

Neo clung on for dear life, every inch of her skin not covered with hair glistening with so much sweat it would be indistinguishable from a swimmer rising from a pool. Her heart pounded with almost painful force, her diaphragm expanding and compressing her lungs at the most rapid rate allowed as her adrenaline forced her body to its absolute limits.

' _Finish! COME INSIDE!'_

And then, with his cock making a final punch that pushed it far enough to occupy every last shred of space available in her tunnel, he came.

' _YEEESSS!'_

Even through the condom she could feel the liquid heat begin to force her walls open a fraction of an inch to make room for the cum that desperately needed to find some space to occupy.

The seeping heat triggered her own climax, and with this one she completely lost control. Her body did not tremble so much as vibrate, each and every muscle in her body forced to spend every last shred of energy they had left in a frenzy of writhing, random orgies of movement that had the appearance of a full-blown seizure. Every muscle fiber and cell burned from the unprecedented quantities of lactic acid that was bathing them, but the burns and aches were not enough to drown out the utter ecstasy that came with it.

Her senses began to leave again, rising up to reach the blank void. Suddenly they halted their ascent; rebounding as her previous vision of the wall in front of her replaced by the sheets of her bed as she felt her head bounce up from the mattress.

Sasuke was serious about her not losing consciousness again; he had swung her torso into the bed hard enough for the resulting centrifugal force to push enough blood into her head to force her to stay with him.

Fuck he was rough with her! Exactly how she liked it!

He could not have timed it more perfectly: before, her climaxes had brought her to untold pleasure even as her senses to fell and disappeared. But now, she came uninterrupted as her senses _sharpened_.

Her body was on _fire_. A raging blaze that consumed every cell of her flesh with both the agonizing ache of muscles completely and utterly spent with the flood of orgasmic pleasure that burst forth from her core in unstoppable walls of euphoria that unified into a divine rapture.

There were no thoughts- she could not think _anything_.

Her ears heard his hips crashing into hers with reckless abandon, punctuated by what sounded like water filling a bathtub. If Neo could have looked behind her she would have seen the true source- juice shooting from her sex in such quantity it formed a small puddle beneath her even as more of her fluids were ejaculated at force to fill it further.

Hilted inside of her, Sasuke continued to throb, once again refusing to budge until his penis had fulfilled its duty. As his length finally finished sputtering its last drops, both the Uchiha and Neo finally fell down from their high.

' _Holy fucking shit…'_

Flushed intensity gave way to warm afterglow, and the small woman basked in it with the satisfaction of a man lost in the desert stumbling upon an oasis. She felt a regretful feeling of emptiness as Sasuke removed himself from her, but at this point she was going to have to call it quits. She barely had the strength left to roll herself over now, if Sasuke somehow had any more rounds in him he would be fucking a comatose partner in short order.

 **Lemon End**

Neo finished righting herself, unable to do more than lay on her belly as she stared at the clock in her room with awe- he had been fucking her for a little more than an hour already! She glanced fearfully at his length; hoping he had finally hit his end for the night. While he was softening, she noted nervously that there was still more than enough lingering rigidity for him to continue if he really wanted to.

Thankfully, her body would be given an opportunity to rest. Her partner was walking around the room (on non-exhausted and still working legs, somehow) to gather his clothing, his boxers already thrown as he began to dress himself to leave.

She had expected nothing less. His antisocial nature aside, staying the night after an evening of sex in an unfamiliar house was not a good idea for people of their profession if their partner was another assassin. They were known as hired killers and backstabbers for a reason; not people who could be trusted to sleep next to.

Still, she couldn't help but feel a pang of longing, the deluge of oxytocin produced from their mind-blowing session giving her an uncharacteristic urge to cuddle. Neo was hardly a woman who felt the urge to fall asleep spooned with her partner after a romp, but after a fuck like _that_ even she was going to feel the post-sex yearn for skin-to-skin contact.

"I'll see you at the next job."

His aloofness was back in full force, a small puff of disappointment escaping her as it seemed her further desire for his company would not be returned.

He was fully dressed in moments, as impeccable as when he had first arrived in her home with no flushed skin or unkempt hair to betray the raunchy activities he had been at the center of for the past hour. The clinging and overpowering smell of sex being the only indicator of how he had spent his evening.

Right as he reached the door to her balcony, he stopped. Turning his head around just enough for a single eye to gaze at the naked, prone form of Neo lying on her sheets, gazing into her eyes that flashed a spark of hope at his pause.

"Or maybe sooner."

The spark blossomed into a shining glow of ecstatic satisfaction as her lips formed a contented smile. Roman had kept tabs on the Uchiha almost since he had hired him- a common practice for the crime lord to make sure he knew what his subordinates were up to. And so, Neo knew that Sasuke **never** spent time with anyone outside of his work. Ever.

She was more to him than a colleague now. They may only have been fuck-buddies, but it was more than anyone else in his life and probably about the best that people in their profession could ever get.

Managing to roll herself on her back, Neo stared at the Uchiha's now upside-down form with a small, coy smile. Using one arm to lift her breasts in a teasing display of cleavage, she gave a tiny flirtatious wave goodbye with the other as he lifted off into the night.

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 **AN: Okay, so that was my first lemon. Tell me if it was too much, not enough, or just right, all that stuff.**

 **Also of note, I hope you found my comparison of aura and chakra durability to be a good one. I have been one of many fans of Naruto to try and find some logical reason why unlike other Shonen, Naruto's power scaling and character durability are so inconsistent. If you're in DBZ, One Piece, Bleach, or Fairy Tail the rule is simple: powerful characters are completely unaffected by weaker characters. Attacks bounce off.**

 **Not so with Naruto. Unless the character has a jutsu or ability specifically designed for protection, such as the Raikage's lightning armor, Gaara's sand, Susanoo, etc., a kunai thrown from a fresh Genin will still cut and do just as much damage to an unprotected Kage-level opponent if it hits. They are seemingly frail glass canons, fearing any direct hit, which** _ **does**_ **give them reason to adopt ninja-like fighting habits such as stealth and deception, but still does not explain the superhuman feats of durability we do see. Naruto smashing a thirteen-year-old Sasuke through and across solid rocks at the Final Valley being a prime example.**

 **I, like many others, have given this paradoxical inconsistency plenty of thought, and this is the best explanation I can think of. Chakra not creating an armor, but a reinforcement of sorts for its user. A good comparison is the difference between the durability difference between a person in a suit of armor and person who (somehow) is made of wood. The wood is nowhere near as effective as the metal is at blocking or stopping hits, but the wood has no soft spots and unlike the armor is not hollow. This also explains why chakra characters can handle blunt trauma relatively well but still get cut by an average kunai (I'm assuming every shinobi puts at least some chakra into their kunai and shuriken to enhance their cutting power to a modest degree).**

 **Let me know what you think!**


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